Colorado Schools Use 9-1-1 To Activate Incident Command System

       

Colorado Schools Use 9-1-1 Call to Activate Incident Command System Submitted: 1/26/2009 11:03:37 AM

Colorado schools have a new tool to use in emergencies. The schools have adopted a system that allows schools to place a 911 call to activate a radio communications network that links school staff with professional responders arriving at the scene. Traditionally, schools facing an emergency have called 911 and waited for first responders to arrive. Under the new enhanced 911 system, schools can call 911 and be immediately connected with first responders through the schools' two-way radios. The radios allow school staff to communicate and work directly with police and other first responders during a crisis. The system will be used in accordance with procedures established by the National Incident Management System.

http://www.it.ojp.gov/default.aspx?area=&page=1256

 

Colorado Schools Use 9-1-1 Call to Activate Incident Command System Jan 12, 2009, News Report By following Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guidelines, schools facing a lifethreatening emergency can now place a 9-1-1 call to instantly activate a campus-wide radio communications network that links school staff with professional responders arriving on the scene. The enabling technology, developed by SchoolSAFE Communications is changing the way Colorado communities think about 9-1-1 calls and the DHS National Incident Management System (NIMS), which has been adopted by all Colorado schools to protect students and staff. Schools traditionally respond to crises by calling 9-1-1 and reporting an incident. Then they must wait for responders to arrive and take over the response. Under the new enhanced 9-1-1 system, schools can call 9-1-1, report an incident, and be immediately connected with local responders through the school's two-way radios. "The system allows the basic radios used by school staff to talk directly with the expensive radios used by law enforcement, firefighters or other professional responders," explains Patrick Hobby, president of SchoolSAFE. This innovation allows school personnel to fully implement the Incident Command System (ICS) established through NIMS, so that they can work directly with community partners in crisis response procedures such as lockdown, evacuation, reverse evacuation, shelter-in-place, and rescue operations. The emergency communications system was designed specifically for ease-of-use by schools, and was introduced over the past two years in Colorado through a series of pilot programs. Selected school districts tested the system in full-scale exercises including multi-agency activeshooter exercises. All participating school districts have elected to permanently install the system. Agreements with their local public safety agencies provide assurance that the system will be used in accordance with NIMS and ICS doctrine. In addition, schools are mandated by new Colorado legislation SB08-181 to test the system at least once every academic term. It has long been a source of frustration that the two-way radio systems used by the schools for daily operations are not able to communicate with public safety emergency radio systems. The two kinds of systems each operate on very distinct frequencies, and the nature of the radio frequency signals produced during the communications are very different.

Based on these realities, the participating Colorado school districts worked with SchoolSAFE to develop specific requirements for the emergency communications system for schools. "It brings Colorado's vision of statewide interoperable public safety communications all the way into the classroom," notes SchoolSAFE VP Michael Coleman, former president of the state's Consolidated Communications Network of Colorado, and former Douglas County Sheriff Office Chief. Coleman demonstrated the SchoolSAFE system to attendees of the County Sheriffs of Colorado Conference last week in Denver. ### 

About School Safety Partners   School Safety Partners (www.SchoolSafetyPartners.org) is dedicated to creating long‐term funding partnerships to  support school safety best practices. We are a facilitator of joint research projects, reaching out to the general  public as well as stakeholders in the public, private, non‐profit, and academic sectors. Since our start in January,  2008, our projects have addressed the legislative, training, compliance, funding, and public awareness sides of  school safety. Here are some highlights:  1.

We created a reference library documenting all aspects of Colorado Senate Bill 08‐181, a first‐of‐its‐kind  measure introduced by Senator Tom Wiens to modernize emergency planning in schools, so students,  teachers, and first responders can act fast in an emergency. 

2.

For the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School tragedy, we produced the national media event,  "Colorado Rising," focusing on the future of school safety in America, and our guests and speakers were  covered by NBC‐TV, CNN, NPR, FOX, Oprah Radio, Channel One News, Associated Press, Reuters, the  Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, German Public Radio, the Guardian, and dozens of  other news sources.   

3.

We assisted in the 2008 Symposium and the 2009 Symposium on the Prevention of School Violence at  Johnson & Wales University, and in the tabletop exercises on interoperable communications conducted  for these events by one of our partners, SchoolSAFE Communications (www.SchoolSAFEcom.org). 

4.

We produced over 4 hours of video footage, with 2 video crews, covering a full‐scale active shooter and  multi‐hazard school exercise that involved 18 agencies and over 1,200 persons, and tested interoperable  communications in several school‐related settings. 

5.

We co‐created the School Response Framework Fund in support of the National Incident Managment  System (NIMS) and to help Colorado schools become NIMS‐compliant as quickly as possible. 

6.

We also developed a virtual campus that schools can use as an online training site for their safety  teams, and as an action center where schools can build strong relationships with community partners,  or local responders. 

7.

We have developed with ABC‐TV a nationwide community awareness campaign, giving recognition to  educators as first responders, and calling for the creation of public‐private partnerships to make school  safety sustainable in communities across America. 

8.

We have also developed with the creators of the feature motion picture, "April Showers," the  educational and school safety materials to accompany the film as it is released to the worldwide  educational market.  

9.

Other states have shown an interest in what we have done in Colorado about school crisis response, and  for them we have designed webinars and information kits about improving school safety legislation and  finding long‐term funding solutions. 

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