Commercial Monitoring Upgrade

The Challenge

A two-story office complex in Bixby, Oklahoma — home to a dental practice, an accounting firm, and a small law office — had been operating on a basic alarm system installed in 2014. The system was a no-frills keypad-and-siren setup: it detected forced entry on the two main doors, and that was it. No fire detection, no carbon monoxide monitoring, no camera verification, and no professional monitoring. When the alarm triggered, it made noise. That was the extent of the protection.

The building owner learned just how inadequate the system was when a small electrical fire started in the server closet of the accounting firm on a Saturday night. No one was in the building. The alarm didn’t detect smoke — it only covered intrusion. A neighboring business owner happened to notice smoke and called 911, but by the time the fire department arrived, the closet was gutted and water damage had spread to the adjacent suite. The total insurance claim exceeded $120,000. The building owner came to Witness Security the following week.

Our Solution

Witness Security designed a comprehensive monitoring system that replaced the outdated alarm with a multi-threat detection platform covering intrusion, fire, carbon monoxide, and environmental hazards — all backed by 24/7 professional monitoring with verified response.

• 12 door/window sensors — every exterior entrance, interior suite door, and accessible window on the ground floor
• 6 commercial-grade smoke detectors — photoelectric sensors in every suite, the shared hallway, the server closet, and the mechanical room, with rate-of-rise heat detection in the kitchen/break areas
• 3 carbon monoxide detectors — placed near the furnace room, the ground floor common area, and the second floor hallway
• 4 interior motion detectors — covering the main hallways and lobby area, triggered only when the system is armed after hours
• Water/flood sensors — placed in the server closet, under the HVAC unit, and near the water heater to detect leaks before they cause damage
• 24/7 professional monitoring — UL-listed central monitoring station with dual-path communication (cellular + internet) so the connection is maintained even if one path fails
• Video verification — 4 interior cameras linked to the monitoring station; when an alarm triggers, operators can view live footage to verify the threat before dispatching, reducing false alarm fines
• Individual suite keypads — each tenant has their own code and arming schedule; the building owner has a master dashboard that shows the status of every zone

We installed the system over three evenings after business hours. Each tenant was trained on their keypad and given the mobile app for arm/disarm and alert notifications.

The Results

The building went from a siren-only setup to a fully monitored, multi-threat detection system in under a week. Three months after installation, one of the water sensors detected a slow leak from the HVAC condensate line on the second floor — the building owner was alerted immediately and had it repaired before any damage occurred. Without the sensor, the leak would have gone unnoticed over a long weekend.

• 6 life-safety threats now monitored — intrusion, fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, water/flooding, and temperature extremes
• Average alarm-to-dispatch time under 45 seconds — verified threats are escalated to police or fire immediately, with video confirmation
• Zero false alarm dispatches in the first six months — video verification lets operators confirm threats before calling first responders
• Insurance premium reduced by 12% — the building owner’s carrier offered a discount for the professionally monitored fire and intrusion system
• 3 tenants, 1 unified system — each tenant manages their own suite independently, while the building owner maintains oversight of the entire property

The building owner told us: “That fire cost me $120,000 because I had a $200 alarm from ten years ago. The monitoring system Witness Security installed would have caught it before the first flame. I only wish I’d done this sooner.”