(by Matt Pedigo, The Citizen-Times, July 31, 2014)
Fires are always possible; sadly, today, so are school mass murders. When emergency responders arrive on such a scene, how will they know exactly where to go, especially in Allen County’s large school buildings?
A new signage—and possibly later, surveillance system—set to be installed in local schools is designed to address that very issue: Fast Pass, from Frankfort-based R6 Assault Systems. After attending a recent training event, Allen County Deputy Sheriff and School Resource Officer Jeff Centers said he highly recommends the system, as does Sheriff Jeff Cooke.
“I was a believer as soon as I saw it,” he said.
Last Wednesday (July 23), R6 representatives Montey Chappell and Chris Shelton addressed ACSO and Scottsville Police Department personnel as well as Allen County School District administrators in a meeting at the Districts’ Central Office. Both representatives came with pedigrees; Chappell is a former US Marine, White House liason, corrections officer and law enforcement instructor; Shelton is a Warren County deputy sheriff.
“R6” stands for “respond in six seconds, and for the fact that, in most school shootings, transpire in six minutes or less, with the shooters often killing themselves when they hear the sirens and know they may lose control of the situation. In other words, with innocent lives in the balance, every second counts. Chappell designed and first tested Fast Pass in a Frankfort school.
Chappell outlined the problem, using the example scenario of an active shooter in a school, with frantic reports coming in that the maniac is in the “ninth-grade hallway.”
“That’s the biggest problem I’ve had—where’s the ninth-grade hallway?” he said.
Sure, teachers and students know, but first responders don’t. Compounding the problem is that many school districts don’t have a real plan for informing them; some simply got plans off the internet—plans that they don’t understand well.
For a local example, Allen County-Scottsville High School has “the science wing” or the “basketball entrance.” But do all local or non-local responders—for example, a Kentucky State Police tactical team—really know where those are?
Fast Pass addresses this by easily-visible signage that gives each hallway or school section a number, which appears large in the center of each sign. Smaller numbers or figures toward the sides of the signs direct responders to particular areas or rooms. The signs are highly-reflective, designed to be at least somewhat visible for firefighters, even in smoke. The signs can also aid ambulance crews in medical emergencies.
Warren County schools, as well as other districts, are already using Fast Pass. Chappell noted another reason it’s necessary: School architects don’t necessarily think like first responders. In the meeting, he and Shelton displayed floor plans for another area high school’s second floor, where room numbers are in sequence down one hallway in one direction, but jump wildly out of order at the rear of it. The R6 representatives noted that this could cost responders a lot of time in emergencies.
For the possible issue of young vandals tearing down signs, each school will have a binder with copies so replacements can be made and installed quickly.
Later tiers of the Fast Pass system—should the District choose the option, and no decision has been made at this time—allow emergency dispatchers to access existing surveillance camera systems inside schools. Accomplished with software and dispatcher training, this could help pinpoint a shooter’s location.
“Law enforcement is taught to go toward the shooting,” Chappell said. “But what if the guy’s reloading? What if he just has a knife?”
Pinpointing the shooter’s location in a large building has several benefits, he added: Speeding the shooter’s neutralization, reducing friendly-fire accident potential among officers (Shelton noted that radios sometimes have reception “dead spots” in the school buildings) and allowing evacuation of other areas of the school the shooter isn’t in. The surveillance system could also help firefighters pinpoint a fire’s source quickly, speeding up firefighting efforts and reducing damage to a school.
The Fast Pass signage system also can be used for large factories—industrial settings have also seen mass murder incidents by disgruntled workers in recent decades—or other large facilities, which is where R6 hopes to make its revenue.
To schools, R6 is offering the signage system at its own costs as a promotion. The exact amount is uncertain at this time, but the signage is expected to cost somewhere around $6,000.
Allen County School Superintendent Randall Jackson and Director of Operations Brian Carter both expressed support for the Fast Pass signage, and Carter said the District would adopt it.
As of Monday, Chappell had forwarded documentation to local school officials, who would decide the timeline for installation. Once the go-ahead is received, faculty training and sign installation is fast—about one whole school per day, Chappell said.
“We hope this will spread throughout Kentucky,” he said. “That way, if you need a hallway, we can get you there, no matter who you are or what you are.”