Williamstown, NJ – August 28, 2023 – From SDM: Excellence is often defined by some variation of “the very best.” It exists at the intersection of education, experience, effort and — often times — empathy. The culmination of these qualities can propel an individual or organization to the forefront of their industry.

Annually, The Monitoring Association (TMA) must define what excellence means in the world of central station monitoring. TMA achieves this with its Monitoring Center Excellence Awards, which recognizes the companies and individuals who provide exemplary service in central station monitoring.

The TMA Excellence Awards, sponsored by SDM, recognize any FM Approved, Intertek/ETL or UL‐listed monitoring center (TMA members) and outstanding personnel who perform in the highest professional manner, thereby making a significant contribution to the betterment of the alarm industry and the alarm profession while demonstrating exceptional service to their customers and community.

This year, we’re proud that COPS Monitoring’s Samantha Marzili has been selected as the 2023 Operator of the Year. The following is Samantha‘s interview with SDM:

The word “no” is not in Samantha Marzili’s vocabulary.

At the time of the event that prompted COPS Monitoring to nominate her, Samantha Marzili was a dispatcher. Marzili now works in the company’s dealer support department, where she applies her skills, knowledge and work ethic to build positive working relationships with COPS’ dealers while helping them with all types of scenarios. Marzili has been nominated multiple times for COPS’ Chairman’s Award for Excellence, the company’s highest honor, for continually going above and beyond. During her performance reviews, Marzili has consistently received high scores for her customer service and ability to assist COPS’ customers/dealers at a high level, ultimately leading to her promotion to her current position.

In addition to being TMA Certified, Marzili successfully mastered COPS’ rigorous 6 Level Gradation training program, which consists of continual training and testing for her first 18 months of employment. Thereafter, Marzili has received quarterly training on customer service, SOP procedures, disaster preparedness and other required skills to ensure she can deliver the highest quality services when it matters most.

And the event that led to Marzili’s nomination? Just an hour into Marzili’s shift one morning, she received an incoming call from a customer COPS’ referred to as Hollis. Hollis quietly told Marzili that he wished to change his password as he no longer wanted his current partner, Landry, to be able to cancel alarms. Hollis explained he wanted to change his code because he was concerned for his safety. Without hesitation, Marzili asked Hollis if she could dispatch the police so they could assist with his situation. After pausing for a few seconds, Hollis stated, “No, I should be okay… as long as he doesn’t kill me by the morning.” Hollis told Marzili that he would take steps to change his code himself, thanked Marzili, and then hung up.

Marzili was on high alert. As she was getting the attention of her manager, she received another call. It was Hollis’ partner, Landry, calling to make sure police weren’t being sent to their address. She advised that there was an alarm earlier that day, but it was canceled because we received a proper code. After ending the call with Landry, Marzili decided to dispatch the police to conduct a wellness check on Hollis and provided the details of Hollis’ concerns and the follow-up call with Landry.

A follow-up call with the police revealed that they had responded to the address to perform a wellness check, but no one was home. Marzili investigated the account after police stated no one was at home and realized a duress alarm had been activated at the property and was canceled because of a proper code. Though canceling the alarm was proper procedure, Marzili made a follow-up call to the police asking for another wellness check because of her overwhelming concern for Hollis’ safety. A short time later, Marzili followed up with the police and learned that not only had the police re-dispatched a unit, but they Hollis was indeed in duress and was in immediate need of police assistance as Landry had returned to the property in an agitated state. The officers removed made their report, and even helped Hollis get the assistance he needed to change the locks on his home.