Back in 2006, security looked pretty different. Many systems were built to do one main job: record what happened when something went wrong. A camera could catch a thief on video, but it did little to prevent a crime in progress. And that same year was when Pro-Vigil was founded in San Antonio by Jeremy White with the vision of surveillance as a service. Here we are twenty years later, and that idea feels much bigger and more complicated than it did then. It helped point toward a future where security would not just watch problems but help prevent them, too.
Now, looking back at the last 20 years of Pro-Vigil, we can divide our past into different eras, each of which has defined both the moment and the way that Pro-Vigil met it.
The First Era: Watch
In the early days, cameras were silent, observant witnesses. They recorded. Alarms sounded. Eventually, people would react. That approach led to one big problem: lots of noise with very little clarity. Only four years before Pro-Vigil’s founding, the U.S. Department of Justice published research showing that between 94-98% of police alarm calls were false. In other words, dated security often created motion but not always meaningful action. This made it difficult for both businesses and first responders to know what really mattered.
And that was why it was important to watch.
The Second Era: Connect
From the lessons of the early days, we learned the value of “connect.” Video got clearer. Systems moved onto networks. Teams were able to check sites from more places instead of being tied to one monitor in one room. That shift caused major changes in the industry.
The Third Era: Understand
After connecting, security needed to understand. In looking back, it’s clear that the time between each of these eras has compressed at the same rate of technological advancement. In this stage, AI comes into the story. Smart systems were proven to help detect patterns, sorting the important moments from the harmless ones. They could tell the difference between a real threat and everyday movement.
This distinction matters because businesses don’t need more footage for the sake of footage. They need better decisions and decision-making power.
By relieving humans and business owners of the menial tasks involved in sifting through endless hours of video footage, suddenly the weight of that decision-making becomes filtered. Suddenly, it becomes a power to keep building the right preventative strategy for physical security.
The Fourth Era: Prevent
The latest and perhaps most crucial era is defined by prevention. Pro-Vigil’s remote video monitoring (RVM) services process more than 80 million video clips each month (translation: that’s a lot of video to go through). Even with a massive staff of operators, that kind of volume would require a substantial undertaking to review.
With AI in place, that process becomes automated so that flagged issues are sent to human monitors who can then escalate. That process helps deter 97% of intruders on the first attempt.
In 2023, Pro-Vigil opened the doors to its new, state-of-the-art Surveillance Operations Center (SOC) which later earned the UL certification and a Five Diamonds designation from The Monitoring Association, helping to support reliable, 24/7/365 monitoring. Because of this robust approach, Pro-Vigil prevented over 27,000 crimes in 2025 alone. That’s the difference between passive surveillance and active prevention. One records crime, the other stops it.
As Pro-Vigil celebrates 20 years in business, we remember that the goal was never just to put up more cameras. The goal has always been to make security more impactful. More real. More immediate. Over time, the industry moved from watching to connecting, from connecting to understanding, and from understanding to preventing. Pro-Vigil grew ahead of that change by investing in high-definition cameras, AI, real-time deterrence, and the people behind the technology – from day one.
The Next Era: Continued Innovation
Looking back on the past 20 years has made this milestone quite special for Pro-Vigil. It’s been 20 years of growth, of evolution, of refinement. It’s what keeps pushing the bar on our service delivery. And now with new tools in the market and the ever-increasing power of AI, the ability to continue preventing and deterring crime is at the forefront of our plans.
Pro-Vigil is not just celebrating 20 years in business. It is celebrating 20 years of helping move security forward. From grainy video to AI-driven insight. From delayed reactions to real-time deterrence. From surveillance alone to prevention first. The next 20 years should not be measured by how much video we record. They should be measured by how many problems we stop before they fester.
We evolve alongside the times. We evolve alongside our customers’ needs. And we think ahead of criminals.
