911 ResponsAbility

Experts Now Agree...SMS/texting is not the answer for Emergency Notification

An article yesterday in The Wired Campus announced that a new report by Patrick G. Traynor entitled "Characterizing the Limitations of Third-Party EAS Over Cellular Text Messaging Services". In it, Traynor, an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, says:

“In particular, because of the architecture of cellular networks, such systems will not be able to deliver a high volume of emergency messages in a short period of time.”

Bottom line, there is no way to meet the 10-minute alert goal that has been established by the EAS. Even worse is the possibility that sending a high volume of text messages has the potential to block 9-1-1 calls and communication between emergency response teams.

This is actually something I wrote about last year at this time. Using more low-tech solutions like PA systems and sirens is just as effective. But the first step is figuring out exactly what you need to communicate. The InterAct Missionmode Crisis Management System can help.

Emergency Notification Systems Are Not the Answer at Universities

The results of the Virginia Tech shooting investigation were released today and the underlying theme of the report is that the Faculty is responsible and accountable to communicate faster. I'm not trying to say that emergency notification systems don't have their place. But getting the actual message out is the easy part. Figuring out what to say is a lot harder...and that is where MissionMode comes in.

From an AP article on the story published August 30 titled Va. Tech president defends himself:

"It took administrators more than two hours to get the first e-mail warning out after Cho killed two people in a dormitory. In the interim, Cho mailed off a video confession to NBC and then made his way across the Blacksburg campus to a classroom building, where he killed 30 more victims and committed suicide.

...during those two hours, administrators carefully considered how to deal with the first burst of gunfire, including a warning or a complete campus lockdown...

At the time, however, only two administrators had the ability to send campus-wide e-mail, and the message first had to be formulated by the Policy Group, a body that includes nine vice presidents and several vice provosts and is chaired by Steger. It took a half-hour just to assemble the group."

There isn't a more appropriate scenario I could come up with as an argument for the need for MissionMode.

1. MissionMode's emergency notification feature can send an alert to all team members via their phone, email, cell, pager, etc within seconds. Team members manage schedule by time of day, and day of week.
2. Team members can then log in to an online situation center where they can communicate and collaborate no matter where they are located.
3. Pre-defined situation templates ensure that the most up to date information related to your response plans and SOPs are available at everyone's fingertips and not sitting on a desk miles away, or clogging your email server as you try to email them to everyone.
4. Task assignments can be automatically triggered and responsible parties can give task status can be updated for all team members to see.

The sooner you can get to work on a situation, the quicker you can react, take action, and save lives. MissionMode can help.

Problems with Planning and Preparing for Emergencies in Schools

Seems like there is no end to the problem of school safety. I just came across this article on CNN.com.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/17/school.safety.ap/index.html

    ...according to an analysis by the congressional Government Accountability     Office. For example:

• About half of school districts don’t have plans for continuing to educate students in the event of a lengthy school closure.
• School districts generally are not working with first responders or other community officials on how to implement emergency plans.
• Twenty-eight percent of school districts with emergency plans do not have specific provisions for evacuating student with disabilities in an emergency.
• Two-thirds of districts reported a lack of expertise and equipment, such as two-way radios and adequate locks for school building, as impediments to emergency planning.

InterAct pushes for schools to integrate with their local police and other emergency officials. This is the best way to ensure the best response possible if their is a breach in a school’s security plan. We continue to see a need for schools to be able to integrate technologies together to keep their schools safe.

At InterAct we have come up with solutions to link intelligent video surveillance (TrueSentry) to a the systems at the local 9-1-1 center, allowing dispatchers and first responders to be aware of what situation is going on before they even arrive on scene. In a previous blog, we talk about how to use emergency notification (MissionMode) to get alerts out to other officials who need to know about a situation that is going on.

Of course there is will be no end to see articles on how our schools aren’t as safe as we hope, but InterAct makes sure the solutions are out there for them to do it. For more on InterAct schools safety, visit http://www.interact911.com/industry__solutions/private__sector/education/index.htm

Emergency Response Legislation for Colleges & Universities

Just saw an interesting  article about some national legislation that has recently been presented on the floor about emergency notification at colleges & universities.

http://www.campussafetymagazine.com/News/?newsID=1080

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation on April 26 to strengthen the safety and security of college and university campuses. The Campus Law Enforcement Emergency Response Act of 2007 will ensure that all colleges and universities develop emergency response procedures and campus notification systems, and test them on at least an annual basis.

The legislation would require colleges and universities to do the following:

• Develop and distribute policies for responding to law enforcement emergencies, including procedures for notifying students and employees about such emergencies. The term "law enforcement emergency" would include situations that occur on a college campus, that involve a law enforcement response and that pose a potential threat of continuing danger;
• Report on statistics concerning the occurrence of such emergencies;
• Test their law enforcement emergency response procedures at least annually; and
• Provide notification to the campus community no later than 30 minutes after the discovery of a law enforcement emergency situation.

What is extremely interesting about this legislation is the time limit they have on the amount of time the school has to send out the alert after an incident. Actually getting a mass alert out is the easy part. Emergency alert systems are a dime a dozen. MissionMode does it as well as anyone via voice and text to phone, fax, email and SMS.

However, the hard part noted here is complying with that 30-minute window. How will you get a hold of all the decision makers, get them up to speed, and quickly make the decision of what exactly you are going to say in that alert? That is the key, and the MissionMode crisis management system is exactly what you need to accomplish it with an online command center where team members can access emergency response plans, get up to speed quickly on the current situation, and collaborate on the action to take.

Learn more by visiting the MissionMode product site at http://www.missionmode.com/products/index.htm. Call Steven Daukas at InterAct Public Safety Systems today to schedule a demo at 336-201-5078.

Learning from History

Our resident expert on school safety and security, Don Fraser, just sent me the following link to a New York Times article from May 19, 1927.

MANIAC BLOWS UP SCHOOL, KILLS 42, MOSTLY CHILDREN; HAD PROTESTED HIGH TAXES; 33 PUPILS AMONG VICTIMS

It brings to mind the quote by philosopher and poet, George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Before Columbine, the thought of a tragedy of this magnitude seemed to be impossible. We collectively forgot about this unthinkable, horrific act in Michigan, and so here we are 80 years later, with 32 more lives cut short.

We can not - must not - forget. The real tragedy will be if in another 80 years, we still have not done anything to improve the safety and security of our schools to protect our children. The technology exists to help detect and prevent incidents, but help is needed on the federal level to fund the initiatives.

Pushing the Limits of School Security

Amazing that school security has come to something as extreme as this…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_on_go_pr_wh/school_safety

But I wonder how far we are from this set up becoming the standard. While this school is really pushing school security to the limit, most do not have the kind of budget necessary to install and maintain this level of systems.

More economical safety precautions that many schools are already taking include:

• Locking doors during school hours.
• Requiring all visitors to check in and wear a badge while on campus.
• Hiring security guards or having teachers and faculty make rounds on campus grounds throughout the day to notice loiterers more quickly.

But many of these actions can be enhanced and improved upon with the advancements made in digital video surveillance technology, such as InterAct TrueSentry.

• Cameras can monitor and record all activity in and out of doors and tied to access control devices. If any door is opened when it shouldn’t be, the camera would automatically alert administrative staff with an audible alarm, drawing their attention to the camera so they can react immediately.
• A perimeter can be defined around the school in the system and cameras monitoring the grounds can detect when someone is loitering within the perimeter during school hours. This technology might have detected the perpetrator in Bailey, CO for instance since he was hanging around outside the school for 20 minutes before entering.
• TrueSentry is integrated with the InterAct MissionMode alert notification and crisis management system. With this capability, once a threat is detected, administrators and security personnel can receive an alert on their cell phone, pager, SMS or e-mail and view the video of the incident immediately to speed response.

Response personnel can take control of the live camera feed and get a view of the current situation so that can plan an effective resolution. If officials in Bailey, CO had been able to see inside they may have chosen to enter the building sooner without blasting through a wall.

And InterAct will soon be announcing a School Surveillance Starter Kit. This will include 4 surveillance cameras and a TrueSentry NVR for $16,400. The system will also be available for a 3-year lease at $592.90 per month or 3 annual payments of $7,114.80.

MSNBC Postponed

Our spot on MSNBC has been postponed and will hopefully air tomorrow.

Digital Video Surveillance for Increased School Security

American School & University Magazine’s recent School Security supplement discussed some important points that schools should consider as they put together their Security Plans. Not surprisingly, some of their recommendations revolved around the use of video surveillance systems. From the article:

• Is there a video-surveillance system monitoring, recording and storing video of vulnerable areas?
• Can the video-surveillance system be monitored from a remote location?
• Can the real-time security system data (video, audio, access control) be shared with local law enforcement?
• Are all security systems (intrusion, access control, emergency voice, video surveillance) integrated into one network?

InterAct TrueSentry is a digital video surveillance system that can help a school meet all of these recommendations and more right “off the shelf”. In fact, on the first point ASU Mag points out that “not many schools have the “ability to monitor cameras continuously”, but that a “regular check of live and recorded video” should be performed. But with TrueSentry, you get an “intelligent” threat monitoring system that actually serves as another set of eyes with integrated motion detection and alert notification. The camera can recognize when specific rules are being violated and draw staff’s attention to the field of view. The incident can be easily escalated by sending an alert to administrative and security personnel via phone, email or SMS.

The system can even be quickly escalated to local law enforcement since TrueSentry can be integrated with computer aided dispatch systems at used in 9-1-1 call centers. Video of the incident can be sent directly to emergency dispatchers and law enforcement personnel to reduce response time. Response teams can also take control of the live cameras for a current view of the situation to more easily plan their entry into the building without placing any additional lives at stake.

The Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center is a program of the National Institute of Justice, the research and development agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. One of their initiatives is to research technology that schools can use to increase the safety and security of students nationwide. They found TrueSentry met all of the requirements they had right out of the box and chose to install it at Hazard High School in Kentucky as part of a pilot program poised to become the national model for school security. You can read more about it here.

To learn more about other InterAct applications that can help increase the safety and security of schools, please visit http://www.interact911.com/school_safety

Is My Child Safe At School?

There has been an overwhelming surge of school shootings since the school year started. Before I started doing some research on this, I had the count at about 7 – which already seemed ridiculous. So imagine my shock and awe when I found there have actually been 26 since the beginning of the school year…7 of them fatal (ABC News Report). That was before today when another child walked into school and pointed an AK-47 at his teacher and a couple students with the additional bonus of a bomb threat in his satchel.

This is so unbelievably tragic and makes every parent, myself included, question the safety of their own children as they send them off to school every morning.

Students Against Violence Everywhere is a national organization that looks to prevent school violence from the very beginning. By visiting, http://nationalsave.org/main/justforparents.php, information can be found on how to be a good/bad role model, recognizing and understanding hatred, and a school safety tips brochure. The website is full of helpful ways that parents can get their students involved and get themselves involved in student activities.

We will be posting more information here with information on technology schools can use to improve the safety and security of their students. And as a concnerned parent, I will also post some helpful resources and articles I find as I continue to do research on this topic.