by Loren W. Sheffer, C.O.O./Managing Partner, Hedge Tactical Solutions
At 9:35 am on December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza, who suffered from Asperger’s, obsessive compulsive disorder, and depression, shot his way through a glass panel door at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and murdered twenty children between the ages of six and seven years old. He also killed six adults, including the Principal and school psychologist. He then drove to his Mother’s house, murdered her, and then killed himself.
Since Sandy Hook, there have been two hundred seventy three school shootings in the U.S. Four hundred sixty two people shot, and one hundred fifty two people murdered, all by gunfire.
In 2017 alone, the Federal Government reported two hundred incidents of guns on public school grounds.
Since Sandy Hook, in the last seventy four months, the United States has averaged 3.23 school shootings per week, 6.5 people shot, and two killed.
There are ninety eight thousand public schools in the U.S. With that math in mind, that means that there is a .4% chance that there will be a school shooting at any given school in the U.S. this calendar year.
In 2016, the F.A.A. handled 9.4 million flights. At a .4% failure rate, that would equate to 3,740 flights that crashed. That equates to ten flights per day that failed to land safely! Would you fly commercially? Probably not. Yet children, by law, have to go to school.
This says nothing about the shootings at churches, synagogues, sporting venues, military bases, court houses, private businesses, and other venues.
Our Objective
Our objective at Hedge Tactical Solutions is to prevent innocent people safe from interacting with people who mean them harm. We have created a product that is an app based, patent pending system that does exactly that.
The Problem
Our schools, and other buildings of mass gathering must be safe to use without turning them into buildings that look like prisons.
- Almost all public buildings have multiple entry points that are difficult and expensive to control.
- Often times the “shooter” is one of the students or a former student or employee that is difficult to separate from the population inside the building.
- Response times from first responders take too long. When police arrive at a building, they often do not know where the “shooter” is or what they look like. Police too often set up a perimeter and a command post and wait for a S.W.A.T. unit to arrive to abate the “shooter” giving the “shooter” extra time to take advantage of the situation and continue killing uninhibited.
- Once the “shooter” has been abated or surrendered, the victims often remain in hiding unaware that the environment is now safe and that the police and other first responders have arrived. This leads to unnecessary stress and panic.
- Reunification of the building’s population is complex, unorganized, and chaotic.
The Solution
At Hedge tactical Solutions we have developed a tool called “Tactical Alert”. This tool is a sophisticated yet very simple to use smart phone based application. Nearly everyone in public buildings has a smart phone, smart board, lap top, or tablet. Anything with an I.P. address can be connected to this system. All Apple products work as well as Android phone up to two and a half years old.
This system works this way:
- When a threat is seen on the grounds or in a building, a user opens the app on their device and hits the Threat Alert button. Instantly, everyone in the building’s device is activated with an “Alert Tone”. At the same time, the phones of all police in the area’s phone fire off the alert as well. At the same time the floor plan of the building the “shooter” is in pops up on everyone’s screen. The location of the “shooter” is noted by a red dot that moves through the building marking the location of the “shooter” at all times. This is accomplished by our command center moving the location of the “shooter” by using the activated cameras inside the building.
- Knowing where the “shooter” is and what they looks like and what type of weapon they may have can give the Police the critical knowledge to enter the building quickly and removing the threat thereby saving lives.
- Knowing where the “shooter” is eliminates the element of surprise the “shooter” has over their potential victims and gives the occupants of the building the knowledge to go into lock down or to evacuate.
- Our system also has a mass notification feature that can be used by administration to let all of the occupants of the building know when the situation is safe, and where to meet up for re unification. It is also a critical tool for giving updates during the event.
Additional Features of “Tactical Alert”
The “Tactical Alert” product has two other features to keep people safer. These two features are designed to keep people aware of the app and create “muscle memory” by making it a product they use more consistently. These two features are for internal use only.
- The yellow “Needs Assistance” button is used when a person needs help in a situation that does not require the response of outside police or medical assistance. It works on the same principal using a mapping tool on the floor plan of the building they are in. An example of this would be in breaking up a fight, a confrontational guest, or locating a missing person.
- The blue “Medical Alert” button is used for a medical emergency. It alerts responders as well as all app holders that there is a medical problem and where it is located. It can also shows the location in the building of defibrillators, medical equipment and nurses stations. It also gives the user the instant ability to use 911 while staying on the screen.
- Our app is also “Geo Fenced” which means that for most users, when they leave the building, the app is inactivated and cannot be used by them or a third party to set off a “Threat Alert”. For administrators, a simple flip of a toggle on a back screen keeps them informed of what’s happening anywhere they have mobile service.
Cost of the App
The app and the protection and services that it provides is very affordable. The service is sold on a monthly subscription basis on both one and three year contracts. Typically, the cost to protect a building and its’ grounds with full camera integration is $350.00 per month. Each camera hooked up to the system runs $7-$10 per month depending on the number of cameras. The hard equipment costs range from $350.00 to $7,000.00 depending on the size of the system. We also offer a product for campuses with multiple buildings, which drops the cost of each building covered significantly. We can also offer a product without camera integration that is significantly less money monthly ranging from $250.00 to $199.00 per month.
Training
Training on how to use the app is free and generally only takes a short period of time.
We also provide “Active Shooter Training” should a client require it. This training is provided by our expert staff who are all former Law Enforcement, S.W.A.T., Navy Seals, Delta Force, Rangers, and F.B.I. veterans. This training costs $2,750.00 plus travel and accommodations. The number of trainers depends on the number of people being trained.
Conclusion
The app we have created provides a rapid and cost efficient method to keep virtually any public gathering place much, much safer from active threats as well as providing a solution for reunification after and event occurs. This system is robust and is the only system in the world that tracks an active “shooter” through a building or grounds and allows police to know where the “shooter” is, track them, identify them, and alert everyone present of the threat including the authorities. It is very inexpensive, simple to use and easy to install.