App Connects Teachers With Police During School Emergencies, Shootings
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – An app to help connect teachers with first responders during emergencies, including active shooter situations, is set to launch.
After a shooter took the lives of more than two dozen kids and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, Mike Jacobs decided more needed to be done to keep schools safe.
"Right now, when law enforcement arrives at a school shooting-type scene they're almost walking in blind," Jacobs told KPIX 5.
Jacobs, a father himself, created an app called "SafeGuard OES," which launches on Monday.
The app allows teachers to instantly tell first responders and 9-1-1 dispatchers about an emergency in a specific classroom.
Teachers can give a status of their class through their phone or even smartwatch. Once the alert is sent, dispatchers can then chat with the teacher through the app.
"What this does is it gives specific locations and conditions for those that are in communication with law enforcement," Jacobs explained.
Jacobs said the app can even allow teachers to close their blinds or lock their doors.
The school districts that plan to use the app, don't want to be named, because of safety reasons. But Jacobs said districts in the Bay Area, Southern California and Seattle are interested in the service, along with universities and businesses.