Patriot Protection needed a flexible fleet management and dash camera solution to capture vehicle telematics data and video footage from security vehicles to improve operational performance and provide accountability for their clients.
Patriot Protection partnered with FTS to equip their fleet of security vehicles with FleetCam Pro AI-driven dash cameras, and implement the IntelliHub connected fleet management platform and mobile fleet management app.
By capturing video footage and GPS data through their FleetCam Pro dash cameras, Patriot Protection ensures transparency and high-quality service for their clients while providing oversight of their security fleet.
Customer Snapshot
Tim Martin, Owner of Patriot Protection Services
Since 2018, Patriot Protection Services (PPS) has been providing security services to the greater Columbus area, as well as Dayton, Ohio and parts of Michigan. With new clients coming in regularly, Patriot has enjoyed significant growth over the last five years. Between retail locations, corporate buildings, parking lots, hotels, hospitals, non-profits, and special events, business is booming.
While growth is critical to any business' success, maintaining high-quality service for both their new and existing clients is critical for Patriot owner, Tim Martin. “We pick up a lot of clients who went with a big name security company because of the name,” says Martin. “We offer personal service. This is my company and my city. I never promise clients the world, because nobody can live up to that. I just promise that, when there’s an issue, we’ll be there and we’ll resolve it.”
And to ensure Patriot continues providing that high-quality service, the management team needed a fuller picture of the service their security professionals are providing. Patriot teamed up with Forward Thinking Systems to equip their fleet of 22 security vehicles with FleetCam Pro dash cameras. And to fully utilize this new stream of captured video footage and vehicle telematics data, FTS set Patriot up with the IntelliHub fleet management platform and Monarch mobile fleet management app.
Based on previous experience, Martin was already familiar with FTS’ equipment and services. Prior to launching Patriot, Martin worked for a different security company and was already familiar with the setup and process. “I knew it worked,” said Martin. “Monarch works, especially the playback features, and I like sticking with the tools I'm familiar with and already know work.”
Tim Martin, Owner of Patriot Protection Services
The FleetCam Pro cameras proved valuable right from the start. The remote wake feature, in particular, earned high praise from Martin. “I like having the ability to wake up the camera if it’s been idle for a long time,” said Martin. By using the FleetCam Pro’s integrated GPS tracking solution, Martin can determine if drivers are patrolling or sitting idle. And once a vehicle is identified as being stationary for too long, Martin can use remote wake to activate and live-stream the camera to see if the guard is out of the vehicle, sleeping in the vehicle, or watching videos on social media, and adjust in real time to ensure the client is receiving the service they’re expecting.
While guards falling asleep does happen, Martin considers it more of a teaching opportunity than a problem. “Security guards fall asleep,” Martin said matter-of-factly, ”What’s important is how you handle it after the fact.” For example, if a guard worked 22 hours prior and only had 4-5 hours of sleep because he picked up an extra shift, then he’ll go through coaching. However, when that’s not the case, Martin says Patriot’s policy is strict, “If a guard is caught sleeping, he gets suspended. If he gets caught sleeping a second time, he’s terminated.”
Beyond using the cameras to identify and address these types of issues, Patriot has benefited from the ADAS and DMS events, as well as the vehicle telematics. When a harsh acceleration event alert appears in IntelliHub or Monarch, Martin can quickly identify the vehicle and driver, and then watch the captured video clip to determine if it was necessary. “If they’re just gunning it, then they get coached on the impact this has on the vehicles and how to adjust their driving,” says Martin.
FleetCam Pro’s DMS system also helps enforce Patriot’s no smoking policy. According to Martin, “Any time smoking is detected, we check the video footage and use it to provide additional coaching. It’s really helped reduce the problem.”
Tim Martin, Owner of Patriot Protection Services
Beyond driver coaching, FleetCam Pro has helped establish a new level of accountability for Patriot. Equipped with video footage and GPS data from each vehicle, Patriot can more accurately respond to client questions about incidents, ensuring their clients get the high-quality service they’re expecting. For patrolling parking garages and hotels, which typically see a higher number of car break-ins, the GPS data has been particularly helpful. “We use the GPS data to show that our guards are patrolling the facilities as expected,” says Martin.
With captured GPS data, Patriot can show a client that an incident occurred before the guard arrived or after they’ve signed off for the day. Additionally, if a guard is patrolling when an incident occurred, Patriot can use the GPS data to identify the guards location versus where an incident occurred. For example, if an incident occurs outside of a parking garage or on the opposite end of a property, Patriot has been able to use the GPS data and video footage to show exactly where their guard was when the incident occurred. “On a parking garage site, if our guard is patrolling the parking garage and someone breaks into a car outside, he won’t know until he gets back outside,” says Martin. “This system allows us to pull that data from IntelliHub or the Monarch mobile app and send it right to the clients.”
This level of transparency helps keep clients happy, and provides Patriot a safety net when issues do escalate. “If a client doesn’t feel they’re receiving adequate service and refuses to pay, we can prove that we’re there patrolling,” says Martin. In a recent dispute with a client who refused to pay a $45K invoice, Patriot used FleetCam footage and GPS data to support their case. “The more information we have, the better for us,” says Martin.
Disputes rarely escalate as far as the courts, though. Typically, providing that additional level of transparency satisfies clients, and sometimes the additional details prove beneficial. During one patrol at a hotel, Patriot’s guard caught someone breaking into cars and chased the perpetrator off of the premises. The entire incident was captured by the dash camera footage and allowed Patriot to identify the different vehicles for the property managers and the Columbus Police Department (CPD) with footage of the perpetrators. “If there's an incident and CPD’s cameras didn't catch something, we can help in those circumstances as well by sending them our footage,” says Martin.
What does the future hold for Patriot Protection? “Just keep growing, keep pushing on,” says Martin. Patriot plans to expand their client base, as well as add new vehicles equipped with FleetCam Pro dash cameras. “I’d like to add some newer vehicles, additional cameras, and explore other fleet management options,” says Martin. No matter how much they grow, though, the main goal is to maintain a high-quality level of service. “I want to keep providing quality service to our clients and maintain the same core values we started with.”
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