Crystal Serapio is Senior Operator and Trainer in our Verification Monitoring Center. Crystal’s experience includes alarm monitoring of intrusion, fire, access control, and video.
Crystal is an Army Veteran who worked in communications during her time in the military. Her discipline and dedication has transferred to her current role, making her a perfect fit. She joined the Kimberlite team because of the challenge she saw. “In the end,” Crystal says, “I’m glad I did it, because I feel like I’ve become successful at being an Operator. I’m glad I challenged myself.”
Our CEO, Joey Rao-Russell and the rest of the team are glad she challenged herself, too! They love working with Crystal because they can always count on her to go above and beyond to help protect the community. Joey recently reflected on Crystal’s work ethic and said that she “represents the Sonitrol mission and values as good as anyone on the team.” And of course, “it doesn’t hurt that she also likes to catch the bad guy!”
Crystal won the 2020 Barbara Briggs Award, voted on by all employees in the company for the best Central Station Operator. Crystal radiates a very positive attitude and she is able to take her job seriously while also keeping the work environment light at the same time. She gets all of her team members involved in conversations, she loves to laugh, and she consistently supports other operators during peak alarm activity times to relieve some of the heavy workload. She manages to accomplish all of this while raising 2 young daughters.
Peace of Mind for Sonitrol Customers
For Crystal, the most fulfilling part of her job is “knowing that I’m providing safety and peace of mind to our customers.” She saw a lot of changes in the past year, with small businesses and schools being closed for the pandemic, but a big motivator for Crystal is ensuring that these customers can always rely on Sonitrol to be there to protect them.
One memory from her time at Sonitrol stands out in Crystal’s mind. A few years ago, she received a call about a break in at a school. Juveniles had broken in and were ransacking the building. Crystal and another team member verified the break in and proceeded to call the police and the school district.
What Crystal didn’t know at first, however, was that the school representative she was on the phone with lived right next to the school and arrived on scene before police. The representative was determined to not let the intruders escape and chased them down on his own! Crystal couldn’t stop him, but still was able to get turn-by-turn directions from him for her team member to relay to the authorities on their way.
In the end, the school representative took on the three juveniles by himself and they were apprehended and no one was hurt.
Fun facts about Crystal
- Crystal was born and raised in California, but before returning to her home state to work at Sonitrol, she lived five years in Texas! Everyone is always surprised to hear that.
- If Crystal could have a superpower, it would be the ability to duplicate herself so that she could multitask better, complete tasks faster, and have more time to relax.
- The one food Crystal could eat for the rest of her life would be tacos! Her favorite place for tacos is at La Estrella, in her hometown of Selma, California.
At Sonitrol, we would be nothing without our team of dedicated professionals. We are so proud to have the opportunity to work with people like Crystal. Meet more of our team members here.