Carlo Roffel

The Kooi Alarm Center is the heart of the company. All incoming alarms are analysed here and immediate action is taken depending on the live stream assessment of the location. The dispatchers (employees working at the Alarm Center) work according to the health roster: two day shifts, two late shifts, two night shifts and then four days off. One of the dispatchers is Carlo Roffel. He has been working at Kooi for five years now.

”At that time I saw a vacancy on the internet for ‘alarm center’. That really appealed to me. I was brought in to observe the operation in the center for a day and it felt really good. When we started, we had around one hundred and fifty systems. There are now more than two thousand. That’s how fast Kooi has grown in recent years,” says Carlo. “Working at the Alarm Center means you work at the heart of the company. As a team we are well attuned to each other, are quick to switching from one task to another, and a word is more than enough to understand what we need from each other. Every day is different from the last one at the Alarm Center. There are, however, regularly recurring tasks such as placing the cameras, customer contact, adjusting security times, doing routine controls and making reports. But the main task remains analysing incoming alarms. Our camera system is for prevention and if you catch someone trying to steal something, that really gives a kick!”

A unique ambiance

Carlo thinks that Kooi is unique because of the ambiance in the company. “When I arrived here, Kooi was a family business and that family dynamic, I still feel that to this day. I have also worked for other companies, and they treat you very differently than with Kooi. Here, I get on well with everyone, including the board of directors. I find that very special. Everyone at Kooi knows each other and I think that’s what makes us strong.”

There is a lot of actual interest in each other’s private life. Carlo is very proud of his wife and their 8-month-old twins. Carlo certainly recommends people to apply for a job at Kooi. “With Kooi, you end up with the most one-of-a-kind company in the Netherlands!” Because of the different shifts that the dispatchers run, they do not participate in the Friday afternoon drinks. “But we do go to the staff parties, which were organised outside of the Corona period. Moreover, we often have treats in the pantry during our duty. Sometimes we take turns preparing in advance for the evening shifts and on weekends we regularly order something, like for example pizza.