Eldon Christensen talks about his Secure-Idle business in downtown Saybrook on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, as his son-in-law Bob Kennedy tests the finished products. (The Pantagraph/LORI ANN COOK-NEISLER)
SAYBROOK -- A sheriff's deputy in Los Angeles speeds to a chaotic highway pileup, pulling onto the shoulder and hopping out to survey the damage. He leaves the engine running so his lights and police radio stay juiced.
But the deputy -- and the sheriff department's lawyers -- don't worry about some wise guy hopping in and stealing the car. For that, they have a lifelong entrepreneur in Saybrook to thank.
Eldon Christensen is founder of Secure-Idle, an electronic anti-theft device that lets emergency responders push a dashboard button to keep their squad car or ambulance running without a key in the ignition.
Christensen runs the 18-year-old business with his wife, Virginia, and daughter, Vicki Kennedy, from a storefront in tiny Saybrook, population 750. Their product, however, reaches police and fire departments across the U.S. and Canada, and it recently won approval to sell to the federal government.
"It makes you proud when the Illinois State Police goes by and you know my unit is in that car," said technician Joyce Leisure, one of Secure-Idle's six full-time employees.
There are unique Secure-Idle models for different vehicles, the costliest selling for about $114. It takes 20 minutes or less for an employee to assemble the wiring, circuit board and relays for one device.
Secure-Idle has more than 600 customers, from police in Anchorage, Alaska, to Bloomington, some buying hundreds of units each year. Christensen is quick to mention its reliability; it even works in the freezing cold.
"That's how we got the Alaska contract," said office manager Shawn Neil.
Coming home
Christensen, 80, got his patent in 1992, but he said things didn't take off until 1996, when the Illinois State Police began using it. Word of mouth spread as the firm worked the trade-show circuit. He already had experience building businesses, as a founding member of Bank of Gibson City and a nearby golf course.
Raised in Fisher, Christensen had left Central Illinois but returned in 2000, then moved into the storefront and got help from new hires like Neil. Christensen said he chose Saybrook over Bloomington-Normal because it was cheaper to, for example, buy the building he now occupies, an old antique store.
Kennedy retired as a school principal in 2006 and joined the business. Her brother, Jeff, also took part, working early on with automakers in Detroit on the technical specifications.
"We're just like any family," Eldon said. "Sometimes we all call a spade a shovel."
Kennedy, Secure-Idle's president, is looking to the future and thinks it's probably time to raise prices, something her father has resisted for years. They do agree the company needs to amp-up its marketing beyond reliance on word of mouth. Trade shows are expensive even for a small booth, Kennedy said.
But just three weeks ago, Secure-Idle was added to the U.S. General Services Administration's online catalog for government-approved vendors. That arduous process took more than a year, and it involved a thorough examination of the business' solvency, customer satisfaction levels and other metrics.
"There were a lot of hoops to jump through," Kennedy said. "But when you consider all the federal employees that there are, it could be a pretty huge thing for us."
The city of Bloomington uses Secure-Idle or similar devices on 30 to 40 of its police and fire vehicles, said Rob Krones, superintendent of fleet management. If a police officer pulls up to a scene and plans to stay awhile, their car has to stay running to keep the radios, computers and other electronics charged, Krones said.
But if a thief tries to put it into gear and drive away, Secure-Idle kills the engine, he said.
"The officer knows when he goes back, his car's gonna be there," he said.
Posted in Local, Business on Wednesday, December 22, 2010 7:00 am Updated: 5:14 pm.