Battelle Demonstrates Breakthrough in Improving Police Responses to Active Shootings

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwired - April 28, 2016) -  Battelle announced today that it has successfully demonstrated first responders can reduce the time required to end an active shooting by as much as 65 percent using the SiteGuard® Active Shooter Response technology.

Battelle recently partnered with the Training Innovation Division of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), to conduct demonstrations and testing of Battelle's SiteGuard Active Shooter Response (ASR) technology. The demonstration, conducted in FLETC's Counterterrorism Operations Training Facility in Glynco, Georgia, showed that the technology reduced the time needed for first responders to detect, locate and neutralize a shooter by more than 65 percent.

SiteGuard ASR is a new building safety technology that helps reduce or eliminate the delays and errors common in victim-initiated responses to active shootings and terrorist attacks using firearms. Using indoor gunshot detection sensors and cameras, SiteGuard ASR detects, locates, and tracks gunshots, issues critical alerts via public address systems, (911) calls, text messages and computer display, and directs video cameras, all to provide life-saving warning and situational awareness to first responders and building occupants alike.

"Use of SiteGuard's unique video shooter tracking capability also demonstrated significant improvement in officer safety by allowing dispatchers to visually follow the shooter in closed rooms and relay vital information to responding officers," said Battelle's SiteGuard ASR Program Manager Ed Jopeck. "Being able to see and automatically track the shooter by remote video allowed responders to avoid ambush situations that would likely have resulted in officer casualties."

The recent demonstration involved FLETC instructors as role players to a simulated active shooting in two floors of the Counterterrorism Operations Training building, which has been outfitted with Battelle's indoor gunshot detection sensors, cameras and command and control system. For comparison purposes the same active shooter scenario was run multiple times with and without the aid of SiteGuard ASR. With FLETC personnel and active shooter instructors in the key roles of shooter, dispatcher and first responders, response times were measured from the first gunshot to shooter neutralization. The results using SiteGuard ASR averaged three to four minutes with the system being used by the dispatcher. The same scenarios run without the dispatcher using SiteGuard ASR ended in 10-11 minutes or more.

"The test really exceeded our expectations," said Ed Jopeck. "Not only did the technology help first responders shorten the duration of active shootings by more than half, but the video tracking feature in SiteGuard also let us know what the shooter was doing before officers approached him. The ability to locate, hear and see a shooting in real time from a safe, remote location proved itself to be a powerful law enforcement tool that should be installed in any public building concerned with responding to an active shooting."

About Battelle

Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries. For more information, visit www.battelle.org.