StrataSite enhances active threat response planning for schools, employment centers, and government buildings with “outside-in” thinking and online collaboration
The Planning Problem
During an active shooter event, the first wave of response is widely understood and tasked to law enforcement: “Quickly seek out and neutralize the threat inside the building!”
Frequently as part of a response, multiple law enforcement and Fire/EMS teams, from across many regional jurisdictions, race together to the incident zone – additionally alongside groups of media, concerned family members, and curious onlookers.
This en masse response is both a solution and as evidenced during recent events, potentially a problem that naturally adds more logistical chaos to an already chaotic situation. According to StrataSite president and founder, Scott Lowry, his company is determined to demonstrate how its plan-making technology can mitigate potential confusion and disorder, foster true collaborative emergency response, and make a difference in saving time and lives.
“Entry and engagement by law enforcement is a straightforward and widely adopted assignment. Yet today, the reality of complete and effective emergency response also needs to extend to pre-planning for the scenario outside the building – to plan together, in detail around vital specifics of command and control, task assignments, mapped tactical positioning and more.” Lowry said.
To date, active threat pre-planning is very inconsistent between responding agencies, government entities, and private and public sector organizations.
“Many of today’s active threat response plans are being created in silos, with low visibility and sharing between the agencies and stakeholders that are expected to perform together during an event. In some jurisdictions, this type of planning does not exist at all,” Lowry said.
Additional historical challenges with pre-planning also include a high level of time spent coordinating team schedules around development and rounds of review, plus costs and timing associated with production of offline plans that can quickly become outdated.
The StrataSite Solution
According to Lowry, StrataSite’s online active threat pre-planning tool was developed to allow responders to create and share coordinated response plans with community partners, including school systems and large employers. Plans enable all stakeholders to operate around a unified response plan – staying on the same page during moments of extreme urgency and stress.
“We are here to streamline the traditional planning process, maintain valuable legacy knowledge, and give first responders the head start when reacting to a life-threatening crisis,” Lowry said.
Once enrolled within the StrataSite portal, responders collaboratively map and capture key emergency response data around command-and-control information, primary initial responsibilities, locations including rally points, perimeters, traffic flow, reunification sites, medical air transport, EMS triage, media site, and more.
StrataSite also further promotes awareness and adoption via a simple online review and quizzing that can be administered to end-users via tablet or smartphone as new plans are developed. As large employment centers and government buildings have also been targeted in recent years, StrataSite has developed applications for plans covering private sector facilities, large-scale public events, and hazardous work environments.
StrataSite is currently deployed in hundreds of schools across multiple states, including several county-wide commitments. One of which is in Hancock County, Ohio.
According to Matt Cooper, Findlay, OH (Hancock County) School Board President and fire department battalion chief, the decision to deploy StrataSite was clear. “StrataSite presents a very smart solution to the common problem of planning and collaboration between agencies. It aligns well with our goals to be an innovative community when it comes to school safety and emergency response. Our mission to save lives includes seeking best-of-class technology that simply enables collaboration and coordinated threat management between public and private sector responders,” Cooper said.
StrataSite is headquartered in Toledo, OH, and was founded by leaders in safety management and education, law enforcement, and software development. As a finalist in the Accelicity Leading Cities Challenge, StrataSite is recognized internationally as a progressive safety solution for smart city governance.
