As the nation becomes more dangerous with gun violence, hate crimes and school shootings, we must determine how we can more effectively protect our children in what should be a safe haven. A reasonable and achievable solution is to change how we respond to crisis in schools – change the crisis response, save more lives.
One way we can change crisis response in schools is to automate school security. How can automating school security save more lives? The automation of fire detection and notification provides unequivocal proof that automating systems saves lives. The automation of school security can be done in a similar manner. The key to automating security is to combine the day-to-day operations with security technology. The Sandy Hook Commission details the need for “situational awareness” through planning and drills for security situations. Once security protocols and processes are used in the day-to-day process, the ability to identify and detect a security threat is drastically reduced. This also provides a roadmap for how and where security technology should be implemented in the school.