By TESSA ROY Warwick has become the first complete school district to be equipped with Mutualink, a security system that when prompted with a panic button links communications between schools, the mall, police and fire departments and the hospital. It's"
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
|
Warwick has become the first complete school district to be equipped with Mutualink, a security system that when prompted with a panic button links communications between schools, the mall, police and fire departments and the hospital.
“It’s surreal that, unfortunately, in this day and age, it’s a good and necessary tool,” said City Council President Joseph Solomon after a demonstration of the system on Thursday night.
Every adult in the school buildings has the app available on their phone and anywhere on campuses, and the apps are all “geofenced” to school locations to prevent accidental triggers or use by unauthorized persons. An adult can push the panic button on their app, which then alerts other staff members and administration. Emergency responders can then monitor in real time what’s happening in the schools through camera feeds while communicating with teachers and administrators in the school via the Mutualink system.
“Only when the panic button gets triggered will we start actually looking at all the cameras in the school, but it’s going to give real-time information…you’re going to be able to know exactly what’s going on and we’ve never had that technology before,” explained Mayor Scott Avedisian. “So whether it be a panic call for something, if we see that there’s an extreme weather incident, or something that we need to be able to look at what’s going on in the school, it’s going to give us up-to-date, real-time technology to allow us to do that.”
Mutualink Director of Field Training Jeff Kelly walked the School Committee and administrators through a mock “active shooter” scenario on Thursday night. Kelly and audience members sat at the Warwick Lake administration building, watching the camera feed as police tracked down and took a “shooter” at Oakland Beach Elementary into custody.
“In order to respond to a school, police want to be able to see how many perpetrators there are, the description of the perpetrator, and where they are going in the school. Anything after that is a benefit,” said Kelly. He added that the technology cuts down on response times, which can save lives.
“When a bad guy does an awful thing, and police are called, the average time to respond to a capture is over nine minutes,” Kelly said. “Using Mutualink technology, we reduced that by 50 percent. Everyone in this room knows that time is lives.”
The system, which Mutualink officials assured was “very, very difficult to take down” in the case of a wi-fi outage, was presented and approved by the School Committee in April at a cost of $378,254.72. Annual support fees for the system are $39,738.
3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
richardcorrente
We just spent $400,000 of the taxpayers money (plus $40,000 a year in support fees that I am sure will increase year after year) on a security system that they predict will reduce the response time of a police call by 50%. Maybe it is worth it. Maybe it isn't. I don't know.
Here's what I do know. WE NEED A CONTRACT FOR OUR TEACHERS. Without teachers we don't have any need for a security system because if we keep going the way we're going we won't have any students left to protect! Warwick went from 17,000 students to less than 9,000. Face the facts School Committee. You need to settle this destructive lack of stability to our schools. If it takes a hundred meetings then hold two a day until you have a contract that's acceptable to everyone. I'm not saying pay them more or pay them less. I'm saying "Sit down with them and find a solution!" Every day that goes by hurts us all; the teachers, the parents, the School Committee members, the taxpayers and especially the students.
Happy Spring everyone.
Rick Corrente
The Taxpayers Mayor
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 Report this
Kammy
It is an unfortunate state of affairs we have in our schools today but being able to give the Police a live action shot of the situation will certainly assist them in the case of an emergency. Whatever it takes to keep our kids safe if worth the expense.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 Report this
Justanidiot
the safest and cheapest solution is to close down the schools and have every parent home school their kids. they will all be secure and there will be no need for expensive school buildings, teachers, administrators. a win win situation for everyone
Thursday, March 16, 2017 Report this