The Urgent Need for School Safety

The Urgent Need for Instant Notifications for School Safety

With the number of active shooters skyrocketing across the US every year, school safety is becoming a concern for many parents and school staff across the nation. Schools have become the setting for 25% of all mass shootings in recent history and account for several of the largest mass-shootings ever reported in the United States.

Response time to incidents is greatly affected by the time it takes to notify law enforcement and first responders. The process of notifying 911 alone wastes precious minutes and is often ineffective while callers are under duress. Closing the gap in critical incident response notification reduces response time and mitigates loss of life by allowing the situation to be stopped and victims to be quickly attended to.

Mass Shootings 2017-2021

346

2017

1,797 Injured

435 Killed

336

2018

1,330 Injured

372 Killed

417

2019

1,707 Injured

465 Killed

611

2020

2,543 Injured

513 Killed

493

9/12/2021

2,042 Injured

498 Killed

How ASR Helps Bridge the Gap in Communication

Threat Notification Instantly Reducing Response Time

ASR Alert Systems is a state-of-the-art critical incident response technology specializing in the field of threat alert notifications to local Law Enforcement and First Responders in the event of an active shooter or other crisis. With the push of a button, the ASR system is activated via one of the stationary wall-mounted activation points or mobile pendant lanyards. Sirens and strobes are initiated to alert personnel and to disorient the assailant. All personnel within the organization, as well as local law enforcement, will receive immediate emergency alerts via text and email notifications.

The nearest law enforcement personnel will be able to move quickly to neutralize the threat and tend to the emergency at hand. The ASR Alert System saves time by instantly providing the exact location of the threat as well as images from the system cameras.

The threat notification capabilities include Active Shooter/Assailant, Medical and Severe Weather. Our team of professionals has diverse experience in Security, Law Enforcement and Special Operations Military. ASR has melded these capabilities for use in both the public and private sectors.

School safety legislation is underway in many states. Some of which would mandate every public school in the State to have a panic button alarm system installed. The intent of the this requirement will be to allow a teacher or school employee to be able to communicate directly with local law enforcement in the event of an active shooter or other emergency, reducing response time, which in turn can save lives.

Quotation Open Who wouldn’t want to give these schools a better chance if something like this were to happen again?” Florida Representative Matt Gottlieb said. “We must continue this congruent effort until we find some preventative solutions to our mass shooting epidemic.”

Quotation Open This is here to keep all of us safe. We pray that we never, ever actually need to use it…For us, it’s the right thing to do, this system helps keep our kids safe” said Jacob Godino, Director of Operations, Jupiter Christian School - Jupiter Florida.

Quotation Open ASR’s President, Hector Delgado says, “Our system empowers students, faculty and staff to notify local first responders, 911 dispatch, and all personnel within their facility in an active shooter/assailant situation with the simple push of a button. The notification pinpoints and provides the exact location of the threat. This not only helps police respond immediately with accurate information, but it also helps our students, faculty and staff know where the threat is located so they can run away from the threat, not towards it. There is no question that the ASR Alert System can make a difference, we truly believe that saving time saves lives!”

ASR Integration Capabilities

To help make active threat detection technology even more valuable for your organization, the ASR System can be integrated with other security related systems including Video Management Systems (VMS), Access Control Systems, Public Announcement (PA's) and Scrolling Board Platforms. ASR can also be integrated into Law Enforcement Real Time Crimes Centers (RTCC) and 911 Dispatch Computer Automated Dispatch (CAD) software. Having ASR as part of your organizations incident response plan is a value added benefit.

School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2019 H.R.R 3665

REPS. WILLIAMS AND DEUTCH INTRODUCE BILL THAT INVESTS $2 BILLION TOWARD VIOLENCE PREVENTION IN OUR NATION’S SCHOOLS

Jul 11, 2019 Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representative Roger Williams (TX-25) introduced H.R. 3665, the School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2019, with Representative Ted Deutch (FL-22) as the lead co-sponsor. The newly introduced bill establishes federal grant programs for public schools to first identify then mitigate vulnerabilities in their security related infrastructure.

“In the greatest country on earth, no parent should fear sending their child to school, and no child should fear for their own safety in the classroom,” said Rep. Williams. “The time has come to provide schools with the funds and resources necessary to conduct vulnerability assessments and correct security shortfalls on their campuses. Texas leads the country in conducting safety assessments, and the federal government must take the initiative to provide grants, where eligible to ensure that a security weakness is properly addressed. Today, I am proud to partner with Congressman Ted Deutch in introducing legislation that will authorize federal grants for schools to make physical security improvements. This legislation is a bipartisan solution to address a daunting trend across the country. I encourage its immediate consideration in the House of Representatives before American children return to their classrooms this year.”

“Over a year after the tragedy at Stoneman Douglas High School in my district, our country continues to search for ways to keep our children safe in schools,” said Rep. Deutch. “Part of addressing threats to our schools and students is understanding the gaps in our security plans. I’m pleased to join my colleague Congressman Williams on this bipartisan bill to help schools pay for security risk assessments that will identify gaps and help prevent tragedy. Additionally, our legislation includes a provision to expand Alyssa’s Law nationwide. Alyssa’s Law was first enacted in New Jersey and is named in remembrance of Alyssa Alhadeff who was 14 years old when she was killed at Stoneman Douglas. By expanding Alyssa’s Law across the country, we will help more schools utilize alarm systems that directly alert law enforcement to improve emergency response and save lives.”

The School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2019 authorizes $2 billion over 10 years for schools to first identify security risks and then address any shortfalls.

Independent Facility Security Risk Assessments
- Establishes a grant program, administered by the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), that funds independent facility security risk assessments, conducted by experts, for individual public schools.
- The grant will cover 100% of the cost to conduct the assessment.
Hard Security Improvements
- Establishes a grant program, administered by COPS, that funds hard security improvements for individual public schools based upon a previously conducted assessment.
- The grant will cover 50% of cost, unless the school receives a financial hardship waiver from the COPS Director.
All schools will be required to install at least one silent panic alarm for use in a school security emergency, like an active shooter situation. The panic alarm, when activated, will directly alert the closest law enforcement agency of an emergency.

Options for Your School

Contact Us For a Free Demonstration

Being involved with school safety is on every parents mind. You can help to make certain that YOUR SCHOOL is implementing this life-saving critical incident response technology by encouraging your school to reach out to us to schedule a free demonstration.

Safety Grants Available Nationwide

More and more, lawmakers are leading the charge for change. All across the nation, multiple safety bills are being passed and many have associated grant funding. This means free money for your school. ASR is actively researching multiple bills and approved funding. To see if your state or county has available funds, CLICK HERE.