AAC holds first Guardian users' forum

AAC's Guardian Users' Conference welcomed Arkansas sheriffs, jail administrators, 911 coordinators, IT specialists, and other jail personnel.

By Becky Comet
AAC Member Benefits Manager

The Association of Arkansas Counties Risk Management Fund (AACRMF) hosted on July 7 the first Guardian RFID Users’ Conference. Ken Dalley, president and senior quality leader of Guardian, and Greg Piper, training and implementation specialist, shared their expertise with a large group of county law enforcement officials from across the state. We were thrilled to see our conference room filled with sheriffs, jail administrators, 911 coordinators, IT specialists, and a host of jail personnel of various ranks for this conference.

The Guardian RFID system is an inmate monitoring system for our county jails. It is a high-tech, user-friendly way to monitor and document everything that an inmate does in real time. Jail personnel can monitor with ease where prisoners are; what they are doing; whether they have had meals, medications, cell checks and mail; and a host of other things. The documentation piece provides protection for counties in case of litigation.

The National Sheriffs’ Association has endorsed the system: “Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that can help corrections professionals work faster, smarter, and more defensibly. When combined with deep correctional expertise and best practices, jails, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities can achieve whole new levels of automation with real-time inmate management and monitoring capabilities. That’s why Guardian RFID is the definitive leader in correctional RFID technologies.”

The AACRMF User’s Conference provided attendees with the most current information about the Guardian system. Law enforcement and jail staff heard new ideas about how to customize their systems to meet their specific needs. Furthermore, they also were able to share with the Guardian staff ideas for making the system better. Ken and Greg were excited to receive the Arkansas feedback and input. They plan to implement many of the suggestions made during the conference. A good conference is one during which an attendee can receive useful information, share his or her ideas on how to improve something, and feel like the speakers are hearing their suggestions.

For counties that are members of AACRMF, the Guardian system is a free benefit. And that’s not the only benefit of AACRMF membership. Member counties receive free codification of their county ordinances — a process that by law must be completed every five years. Metro Disaster Specialists also makes available to member counties their Peace of Mind (P.O.M.) program for emergency claim services. Finally, AACRMF has partnered with National Medtest to provide free drug testing for member counties’ CDL drivers.

If you are an AACRMF member and have questions about any of these benefits, please contact me. If you are not a member of AACRMF and would like to have more information about this service, please also contact me. My phone number is (501) 372-7550; my email address is bcomet@arcounties.org.