ROANOKE, Va. – If there's an emergency, a new alarm system will help Roanoke city first responders get to your home faster.
It's called the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol System (ASAP).
If your home or business has a security system and an alarm goes off for a break-in, fire or medical emergency, that security company will now send information directly to the City of Roanoke E-911 Center online through its Computer Aided Dispatch system.
Before, security companies had to talk on the phone with dispatchers relaying all the details.
It launched about a month ago and works with 11 companies including ADT Security, Affiliated Monitoring and Brinks.
Dispatch leaders say they get about 20 to 30 alarm calls a day. A third of them will use this new system, which will free up time for dispatchers.
"Just to be able to reduce that time on the phone allows us to pick up the phone and answer that for someone else that is in need of help," said Sonya Roman, the 911 manager.
Roanoke city is the first public safety department in Southwest Virginia to use the ASAP program.