Safe Zone, the leading industry provider of gunfire detection technology, and RapidSOS, the trusted data provider for over 4,000 Emergency Communications Centers nationwide, announced a partnership to send life-saving data directly from Safe Zone detectors to 9-1-1 centers nationwide.
Safe Zone builds gunfire detection systems that capture acoustic, spectral, and impulsive shock wave data for use in commercial buildings, schools, and other public spaces. Their technology was developed in response to the rise in active shooter incidents and enables faster and more efficient response to threats.
Through their partnership with RapidSOS, Safe Zone sends critical metadata directly to 9-1-1, notifying authorities immediately of the threat. The information includes:
- Floorplan of the building showing the location of the shooter
- The weapon format
- The number of shots fired with timestamps for each
During active shooter situations, 9-1-1 is, on average, called five minutes after the first shots are fired. Police arrive 13 minutes after notification, and it typically takes Police 15 minutes to assess the situation and prepare for deployment. Incidents are usually not confronted until 12 minutes after deployment, totaling on average a 45-minute response time to critically dangerous events. When emergency calls are placed during these events, callers are typically unable to provide the crucial contextual information that a Safe Zone gunfire detector can.
“We’re proud to partner with a company that’s nobly creating a solution for a problem we hope to never experience,” said Viyas Sundaram, General Manager at RapidSOS. “By sending gunfire detection data directly to 9-1-1, Safe Zone and RapidSOS are helping to protect the lives of both victims and first responders with critical situational data that can expedite response times.”
The nation’s 9-1-1 system was created over 50 years ago for analog landlines, with no capacity to receive additional data. Through RapidSOS’ free solutions for public safety, 9-1-1 can access Safe Zone data instantaneously – without RapidSOS, this data could not be delivered to the thousands of 9-1-1 centers nationwide.
“By partnering with RapidSOS, Safe Zone is able to drastically reduce the time it takes for authorities to respond to active shooter events,” said John Anderson CTO of Safe Zone. “We’re able to deliver critical data, including the approximate location of a shooter, number of weapons fired, caliber of bullets fired, and more, within seconds of an event. This is game changing for police and EMS – it helps them prepare more efficiently and know exactly what kind of situation they’re getting into.”
For images of the Safe Zone Gunfire Detection System, click here.
