Intrado Safety Suite Blog Series Part 2: Integrating School Safety Systems with Local Law Enforcement and Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP)

17% of mass shootings in the U.S. have taken place in schools and since 1970, 1,316 school shootings have occurred and these numbers are increasing. In addition to school shootings, extreme weather, fire, biohazard emergencies, and student/faculty injury accidents can also take place. It is important for schools to integrate with your local Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) to receive faster response and help keep students and staff safe during a crisis.

In a recent webinar, we discussed with Doug Joyner, Director of Emergency Management and Human Resources from Winchester Public Schools, the importance of schools partnering with local PSAPs, police, fire and rescue, and city government. They work regularly with members of these departments so that a schools safety plan can run smoothly during an emergency.  

“The partnership with first responders and PSAPs is crucial. For example, the Winchester Police Chief, Fire Chief, and Director of Emergency Management are all in the school’s system as [Intrado] Safety Shield users. If we trigger an event, those people are already hearing about it or are in contact and know what is going on with the school,” Doug Joyner stated.

That said, even the best developed school safety plan can fail and that’s why training, practicing, and forming those relationships with your local authorities should be a consideration in your decision-making process.

“If your school doesn’t integrate with your local 911 agency, you’re not going to utilize Safety Suite to its highest potential,” Joyner concluded.

Hear more about Safety Suite in this recorded webinar:

Because every second matters during an emergency, each Intrado Safety Suite solution can instantly connect your school to 911:

• Incident Management & Reunification – Safety Shield leverages Intrado’s status as a 911 service provider to offer its users a faster connection to 911 by automatically passing critical data about callers to a 911 call handler, allowing for quicker incident response and more accurate location information sharing.

• Wearable Panic Button – When the Wearable Panic Button is activated, it sends haptic alerts to other button users and simultaneously triggers Safety Shield to notify 911. This process transmits the precise device location and incident details which are passed to the local 911 emergency communications center (ECC). Location data, incident details, floor plans and more are automatically shared with first responders. This technology helps schools comply with Alyssa’s Law, which requires public schools to implement a silent panic alarm capable of directly alerting local authorities and first responders in the event of an emergency.

Intrado Safety Suite is the only unified solution that provides direct 911 integration to help from the point of detection through complete incident resolution. This life saving technology can provide schools with a solution for safer outcomes such as lockdowns, accurate 911 location, situational awareness, staff and ECC notifications. Safety Suite is an end-to-end solution that can prevent, prepare, respond, and recover from emergencies while also addressing solutions for routine daily communication needs.

For more information about Safety Suite for K12 schools:

Stay tuned for our next blog in this series to learn more about creating a smart campus using interoperable, integrated solutions for on-campus and off-campus communication.