In February 2018, seventeen people were killed and 14 wounded at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSDHS), in Parkland, Florida. Former student Nikolas Cruz entered building 12 and opened fire with an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. In 1 minute and 39 seconds, Cruz shot 21 people, 9 fatally.
According to the Public Safety Commission Report of January 2019, the notification time and 911 inadequacies played a big role in the outcome of this tragedy. There is no official report of how many cellphone callers at MSDHS dialed 911, but those who did had to explain their reason for calling, then they were put on hold and rerouted to explain again to the next dispatcher, and by then, it was too late. It took 4 minutes and 22 seconds from the time Coral Springs received the first call of shots fired at MSDHS until it dispatched its first police officer.
One of the biggest problems with active shooter situations everywhere is there is no single protocol for getting help, nor is there a universal help signal – like pulling the red lever in the event of a fire – and the “dial 911” notification process is costing lives.
Research suggests when waiting on law enforcement to respond and handle a crisis, the average casualty count is 14, but when people are notified right away, casualties average 2.5.
The Importance of Tactical, Notification, & Response Times
There are several important defined timeframes in every emergency…
Tactical Time – the time it takes a victim or witness to realize what is happening and call 911 (5-7 minutes).
Notification Time – the time it takes a 911 call to be processed and first responders dispatched (4-11 minutes).
Response Time – the time it takes for a first responder to be on the scene and act (4-18 minutes).
Unfortunately, most shooting incidents are over in 5-12 minutes.
Tactical, notification, and response times must be sped up to save lives. Fortunately, they can be with the Guard911 family of products and services. If just one person in an active shooter emergency can press the emergency mobile panic button of a Guard911 app, first responders can arrive on scene faster and lives can be saved.
“When an active killer strikes, whether it’s at a school or any public place, the amount of time it takes from the initial chaos to making the call to the police has been identified by Ed Sanow as 5-7 minutes. That’s tactical time. With a touch of a panic button in the SchoolGuard app, this critical notification time to police is sped up and 911 and surrounding first responders are notified instantaneously.” – Ron Borsch, Retired Police Officer and Owner of Active Response Training
What Can Be Learned from Parkland
In an emergency, many callers hang up in fear and frustration before ever getting to a first responder. When traumatized, a victim has a significant reduction in fine motor skills, near vision, and the ability to see colors, which can make a simple act like calling 911 extremely difficult to perform.
In 2018, Parkland 911 calls from cell phones were routed to Coral Springs, which prohibited Broward Sheriff Officers (BSO) from receiving Parkland’s direct 911 calls. The Coral Springs 911 center initially treated the MSDHS shooting solely as a fire/EMS event because it provides fire and emergency medical services to Parkland, not police response. This is what happened when those MSDHS callers called 911 for help.
1. They had to explain their emergency to the Coral Springs 911 dispatcher first.
2. The dispatcher told each person to standby while they called Broward County Regional Communications.
3. The Coral Springs dispatcher then told the BSO dispatcher about the caller on the line with a police emergency.
4. The 911 callers had to repeat the reason for needing the police to the BSO dispatcher.
We have learned from the Parkland attack and the other 276+ active shooter tragedies between 2000-2019, that there is not enough time for even the most prepared person to react and get help with traditional 911 system.
Easy-to-Use Guard911® Apps Save Lives
The only control we have in these situations is to take direct life-saving action “because the remainder of the control is in the hands of the active killer,” Ron Borsch explains. Research suggests when waiting on law enforcement, the average casualty count is 14, but when people are notified right away, casualties average 2.5. So how do you get immediate notification to all levels of help in an instant? With easy-to-use technology, like the Guard911 apps.
With the push of a large red panic button, the Guard911, SchoolGuard®, and CampusGaurd™ apps do the following:
1. An alert is immediately sent to nearby Hero911 Network federal, state, and local law enforcement officers.
2. The app simultaneously speed-dials 911 and connects the user to emergency services.
3. All other staff at your location that carry the app are immediately alerted and a map of the initial emergency alert is displayed on their mobile devices.
4. The app also alerts all other Guard911 protected properties within a 5 miles radius for their situational awareness (since 20% of active shooters go mobile).
According to the FBI, there have been 277 Active Shooter Incidents between 2000-2018, 1012 killed, 1516 wounded. In 2000 there was 1 mass shooting; in 2018 there were 27. There is no “number” to represent the life-long emotional trauma and the number of lives forever changed.
We Must Protect Our Children’s Lives NOW
Today, because of the increase in active shooter incidents, our law enforcement agencies have adopted a universal response plan. They now rush to the scene (once they’ve been notified in the first 4-11 minutes), actively search for the killer, and neutralize the threat to save lives.
Without Guard911, the issue still remains – how to expedite tactical and notification times so that our children can be saved when the unthinkable happens again. And it will.
In every emergency, “Seconds Save Lives!” Be sure to go to Guard911 to sign up today. All current and former first responders, can download the free Hero911® app to help save lives.
