Former Kansas Elementary School Principal Touts Pepper Spray Alternative & Personnel Protection System to Stop Active School Shooters

GARDNER, KS--(Marketwired - Jun 17, 2014) - Jeff Green, CEO and founder of a new startup called SafeDefend, is touting an alternative to stopping active shooters that no one else is talking about and it does not include arming teachers with guns or spending millions of dollars on safe rooms. What is this former Kansas elementary school talking about? A Personnel Protection System (PPS) designed by law enforcement and former FBI agents for schools.

On June 5, 2014, at Seattle Pacific University, one student used pepper spray to stop a shooter as he was reloading his gun. Green said, "Many 'less than lethal' options exist for a potent solution to school violence of which pepper spray is a great option. However, to maximize this approach, it is imperative to have a variety of tools and training available so staff members can have a tactical advantage over the perpetrator. This can be done at a substantial cost savings over most other systems and was one of the reasons why I created SafeDefend."

The SafeDefend Personnel Protection System costs roughly the same as one laptop computer per room and includes a fingerprint activated device that allows for controlled access and secure storage of tools such as gel pepper spray, a baton, a trauma kit and more. Once the system is activated, an alert is sent to a nationwide monitoring company along with a text alerting personnel at the facility to begin lockdown procedures. Local law enforcement is immediately notified of the building and room number where the system was activated.

Green started thinking about an alternative after the Sandy Hook tragedy. He said he was moved to take action on improving the security procedures at his school after he found that no new and effective solutions existed. He ended up creating a system that not only worked for schools but provided a high level of protection and peace-of-mind for employees and patrons in any business, church, hospital, government offices and more.

A tragic total of 44 school shootings have occurred since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, and according to StoptheShootings.org, children in the U.S. ages 5-14 are 13 times more likely to be murdered with guns as those in other industrialized countries.