Family-run Eastern Security Services brings peace of mind to Rochester homes, businesses

Jeff Cooper has spent the past 15-plus years in the security industry helping meet the access, surveillance and monitoring needs of local businesses.

But long before he was ensuring companies could control access points and had the necessary cameras in place to enhance safety and security, he worked for Rochester grocery giant Wegmans Food Markets.

“That was my first job,” Cooper said, “And that’s where I really learned the value of customer service and how it drives retention.”

Those early workforce lessons stuck with him, and that’s essentially what led him to his current position with family-owned Eastern Security Services.

Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Syracuse, Eastern Security Services established operations in Rochester for the first time earlier this year. Cooper was hired in April as general manager for the new office.

He said the firm’s focus on the customer is what prompted him to leave his previous employer, which had gone from local ownership to private equity control.

Private equity firms continue to add to their portfolios. Heating and cooling companies, dental practices, veterinary clinics and even security firms have been among the popular sectors for specialized acquisitions. Even national security industry giant ADT sold its commercial business to GTCR, a private equity firm.

“Any service industry is affected by it,” Cooper said. “Because those bigger companies have come in, they’ve lost sight of the importance of customer service.”

Tending to consumer needs is still a hallmark of Eastern Security’s business model, company president Cooper MacDonnell said, and the Rochester market presents new opportunities.

“We pride ourselves on our customer service,” MacDonnell said. “Through my research, I found there are a lot of unhappy customers in Rochester.

“We’re family owned and operated. A lot of people want to deal with a company where one guy can make a decision. With the corporate-owned companies, it takes time to get an answer. We have one person able to make decisions.”

Since Eastern Security had already built a strong reputation in Syracuse, MacDonnell wanted to grow the company and Monroe County was a natural choice. The plan is to add 10 to 20 employees in the next year.

“We do already have customers in Rochester, we’ve had them for years,” he said. “When a company based in Syracuse opened an office in Rochester, they wanted us to come with them. So, it’s not like we’re brand new there, but we’ve never actually sold in that area before.”

Eastern Security, however, didn’t move into Rochester so much to poach business as they did to complement firms that set the standard in the market, Jeff Cooper said. After all, Rochester-based Doyle Security Systems is still family owned and is a well-respected leader in the industry.

“There are some big names here,” Jeff Cooper. “We all know who Doyle is, but everyone needs competition.”

Eastern Security primarily provides services to manufacturing firms, small- and mid-sized businesses and high-end residential. They equip tool and die shops, food production facilities, medical offices, architectural firms and warehouses with necessary cameras, intercom systems and access control points.

Those systems can all be controlled or activated from an app as well, providing convenience for business owners and managers.

“You can unlock doors, update programming for user permissions, access cameras, arm and disarm alarms and receive notifications from the monitoring center,” Jeff Cooper said.

The monitoring center is a source of pride for Eastern Security. The firm’s systems are monitored by Rapid Response Monitoring Services, Inc., a family-owned sister company also based in Syracuse. Russell R. MacDonnell, Cooper MacDonnell’s father, is CEO of Rapid Response Monitoring.

“So many companies today have outsourced monitoring centers,” Jeff Cooper said.

Some of those outsourcing centers now have a remote workforce, with monitoring done from homes, he said. “That means it’s not being done from a secured building with all of the protocols you would see in a secure facility,” he said.

Rapid Response Monitoring’s 24/7 services still are provided from a central corporate location in Syracuse. MacDonnell said they take their responsibilities very seriously.

“Protecting life and property is what we do every day,” he said. “We make businesses and homes safer.”

They also plan to be family owned for a long, long time.

“We don’t have any interest in selling,” MacDonnell said. “We’re a family run business and we want it to stay that way. Eventually when I have kids, I want them to run it.”

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