Protecting the protectors

Emergency workers given home monitoring devices

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Three hundred Malverne emergency responders, including members of the fire and police departments as well as volunteers for the auxiliary police and ambulance corps, received free home monitoring devices last week as part of a national Protect the Protectors program being implemented by State Farm and Canary, a home security start-up.

Jeff Berges, who owns the State Farm insurance agency in Malverne, addressed the village’s emergency responders at a press conference last week at the Malverne firehouse. “Protect the Protectors was created out of admiration and appreciation for your life and your lifesaving work,” he told them. “We understand that your job is to provide us with safe neighborhoods, thus providing us with piece of mind. Through Protect the Protectors, we’d like to return the favor.”

Each Canary system, which retails for $199, contains two cameras that can take 145-degree video inside a home when its senses motion. The device activates when there is any activity or a change in temperature, humidity or air quality. The system can be controlled through a mobile app, allowing users to see activity in real time, and has a 90 decibel siren that can be activated through the app. When the home’s residents are at home, the system can be in privacy mode.

Malverne is the third community to receive the devices. Vincent LeVien, who lives in the village and has a connection at Canary, approached Tom Grech, another Malvernite, about the Protect the Protectors program. Grech discussed the possible donation with Mayor Patti McDonald, who brought it before the village board, which gave it s approval.

“We’re so blessed to have so many individuals volunteer in the village,” said McDonald. “And a lot of these men and women that you see here volunteer not in just one agency but in many agencies, and they do so many other things for the village. They deserve all the praise they are receiving here this morning.”