Dallas-area school district explores using drones against active shooter threats
A North Texas school district could be taking its security to new heights using drone technology that promises to help track down and take out active shooters.
A security company showed off the new tool during a demonstration inside a University Park school Monday night.
The drones can navigate stairs and hallways, drop pepper spray or flashbangs and even collide with a gunman if necessary, according to Campus Guardian Angel CEO Justin Marston.
"So our goal is — we get cued because a teacher presses a button on an app, or they hit a silent panic button, and then all of the video cameras and a map of the school comes up in our app center," Marton said. "And from that moment, our goal is to respond in five seconds to find and be on the shooter in 15 seconds."
Marston's company offered a demonstration of his technology to an elementary school in University Park, where Highland Park ISD Police Chief Mark Rowden was watching.
"What we saw tonight was impressive," Rowden said. "There were things there that we could use. We will be looking at what we can do with this in the future and how we can incorporate something like this in what we do."
The drones are controlled by pilots wearing headsets
The school shooting in Uvalde and the war in Ukraine both provided the company's founders with the idea of responding to active shooters with drones, which are controlled by pilots wearing headsets inside a control center at the company's headquarters in Austin.
One Texas school district already plans to adopt the security system which the company said will cost $4 per month per student after purchasing the equipment.
The drones can break windows and even if one goes down, they are all designed so that additional drones will deploy quickly enough to take down the target within one minute, the company said.
"Anywhere where there's a security guard and anywhere there's somebody carrying a gun going into harm's way, there's close air support for you," said Bill King, the Chief Tactical Officer with Campus Guardian Angel.
The company is visiting school districts across Texas to gauge the interest in investing in security measures that they hope are never needed.