In this International Security Journal Exclusive, Timothy Garrett, President of AURA US explains AURA’s expansion into the US and how the company will aid emergency service providers.
AURA is a smart dispatch platform and also a marketplace.
It connects our clients, which typically include alarm monitoring centers, insurers, property managers, smart device companies and their end users, to a network of licensed private security providers.
We manage the infrastructure that links the demand side (our clients and users) with the supply side (a network of private security guard companies).
End users can directly submit machine-to-machine service requests for licensed private security.
These requests are processed through our algorithm, which identifies the closest available guard and dispatches them to the location.
When the guard arrives, they follow a predefined checklist of tasks, providing full transparency throughout the process, similar to how an Uber shows you where your driver is and what they are doing.
Users can track the guard’s location, monitor their progress through the checklist, view photos taken during the response and once the job is complete, a detailed report is generated and sent to both parties.
We also operate a 24/7 control centre that serves as a central point of communication.
If intervention is required, or information needs to be passed between parties, our control centre manages that process.
As for my role, I am leading AURA’s operations in the United States. We launched there earlier this year and my focus is on building the team, scaling the platform and shaping our go-to-market strategy.
That includes everything from developing our responder network to identifying and engaging our customer base, recognising that the US market may have different needs compared to other regions in which we operate.
Our service focuses on fixed-location response and we have observed that many of the challenges seen in the UK are also present in the United States.
One of the key issues is that emergency response services increasingly lack the resources to respond to every call or when they do respond, it is often slow and delayed.
In the US, several cities have already implemented new ordinances and police departments are adjusting how they triage and respond to certain types of incidents.
Alarm response, for example, has been deprioritized. The reason is straightforward: a significant percentage of alarms are false.
Each time a police officer is dispatched to a false alarm, it diverts a resource that could be attending to a more pressing situation.
We saw this as a clear gap in the market that needed to be filled. That is what brought us to the United States: to introduce a new, potentially disruptive approach to emergency response.
Our aim is to support police departments by handling lower-priority or lower-risk calls, easing the pressure on them.
We escalate to law enforcement only when there is a verified threat or when their involvement is genuinely required.
Cities such as Dallas, Seattle, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and Atlanta are locations we are actively looking to enter, as police response in these areas can be particularly stretched.
In addition, organisations such as the TMA (The Monitoring Association) are working on standards like AVS-01, which help police departments prioritize alarm responses more effectively.
This system uses a tiered structure, from zero to four. What we are able to do is manage those lower-tier responses that require verification, again freeing up police resources for the more critical incidents.
To summarize, there is a clear gap in the emergency response landscape and our job is to help address it.
One of the biggest issues we are seeing today is that there has never been a time where so many people have such widespread access not only to security systems but also to the ability to request emergency response.
It is no longer limited to a traditional alarm system installed in your home. People now have cameras everywhere like Ring doorbell cameras, for example.
There is also a wide range of DIY security products that allow them to monitor their property from anywhere at any time.
In addition, almost everyone now carries a smartphone, which means they can contact and request police assistance whenever they feel it is needed.
That level of accessibility is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something that emergency response infrastructure has not yet fully adapted to.
As a result, emergency services are increasingly overwhelmed. They are being flooded with requests and simply do not have the capacity to respond to everything.
This leads to delays and in some cases, they are forced to deprioritize or even ignore certain calls.
From the perspective of an end user, this is understandably frustrating. If you are paying for a security system and expect a police response as part of that service but it then takes hours for someone to arrive, or worse, no one responds at all, you begin to question the value of what you are paying for.
That is where we see some of the biggest barriers and they largely come down to sheer volume.
We are addressing this by reducing the volume that reaches emergency services by taking on some of that burden ourselves.
Our teams can be dispatched to verify in person whether a crime is in progress or whether one has already occurred. If there is confirmation, we escalate the incident as necessary.
Once it is escalated and verified, it becomes a priority for the authorities, because they know there is a confirmed incident and can triage it accordingly.
Ultimately, AURA’s mission – especially in the United States – is to make the world a safer place by ensuring emergency response is accessible to anyone, anywhere, quickly and reliably.
We achieve this by using our technology to connect users to the nearest available licensed responder, not just whoever happens to be on call at the time.
It’s about improving access to safety and security, whether someone lives in a city, suburb, or rural area.
We aim to bring consistency and accountability to an industry that, historically, hasn’t always had it consistently.
This ties into how we think about democratising access to emergency response. On the supply side, we work closely with a network of private security guard companies.
We view this as a mutually beneficial partnership.
We’re tapping into their availability when they are not actively engaged in other work.
If they’re unavailable, that’s fine because we have a broad network to draw from.
This setup allows these providers to increase their utilisation and unlock new revenue opportunities, while also enabling end users to access rapid response services at a lower cost than they would typically pay for a dedicated security presence.
Because we’re leveraging otherwise unused capacity, the cost to the end user is more affordable as they’re not paying the full rate they would if hiring a guard directly.
Participation is entirely optional for our partners. We want the nearest available responder to accept the request but only if it suits their schedule.
We never want AURA to interfere with their core business. It should always be a collaborative, value-adding relationship not a burden.
In South Africa, our Founder and CEO, Warren Myers, originally launched a video monitoring business.
The idea was to detect crimes in real time and alert police to respond. However, even with video evidence, police response was often too slow or didn’t happen at all.
Customers understandably began questioning the value of paying for monitoring without meaningful intervention.
This highlighted a gap in the market and that’s where AURA was born – to provide a reliable, rapid response to real-world incidents.
Crime in South Africa is very different to what we see in the US or UK. It’s often more violent and personal in nature, which demands a solution focused on mobile, on-demand response.
Private security tends to be more paramilitary in structure with roles for armed and unarmed officers.
In cities like Johannesburg, our average response time is around six minutes.
We’ve effectively supplemented police services in many areas, offering users a panic app to request help from anywhere.
Due to our platform being personal safety platform, we also provide ambulance and roadside assistance.
In contrast to South Africa, the US market is more focused on property protection than personal safety.
Situations requiring personal safety intervention by private guards are far less common.
As a result, our approach in the US is different. We’re supporting public services by handling lower-priority incidents and improving response reliability for customers particularly in areas where emergency services are stretched.
In both markets, our goal is the same: ‘To make emergency response more accessible, consistent and effective.’
But the way we deliver that service is shaped by the local context and demand.
It’s really exciting because we’re just getting started. I see AURA growing into a nationwide network, able to respond to anyone, anywhere at any time.
Response times will naturally vary, faster in urban areas, but our goal is for everyone, regardless of location, to have the ability to request service.
We want millions of people to feel safer and more secure every day. As a business, I see us becoming a key player, providing broad coverage and opportunities for our customers, whether they are alarm monitoring centers, smart home system providers, commercial risk platforms or others.
Looking ahead, I can envision organisations like the TMA continuing to advance standards like AVS-01 across UK PSAPs and AURA playing a vital role in assisting with triaging and responding to alarm tiers that the police simply do not have the resources to manage.
This allows us to support public safety efforts and government agencies in a meaningful way.
On the supply side, we aim to build a large network of private security guard companies, maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship.
We want to support them beyond just response services, for example by helping them access discounts on vehicle maintenance, offering continued education and training, and promoting safety initiatives.
Ultimately, we want to be an integral part of the ecosystem, bridging both the monitoring and private security sides, and enhancing the overall security landscape.