67% of parents and teachers are more concerned about school safety now than they were five years ago, according to Motorola’s 2023 School Safety Report. Across the country, schools, legislators, and responders are working hard to build safer environments for students and staff. School districts have created emergency operating plans and routinely implement drills and exercises while innovation in new technology equips responders with critical information to prevent, circumvent, and minimize the impact of emergencies.
While prevention remains the ultimate goal, the reality is that when an emergency does occur, the speed and effectiveness of the response can help save lives. When a 911 call comes in from a school or a panic button from within a school is pushed, it can take telecommunicators time and resources to piece together fragmented information. If outdated systems are in place, this means the telecommunicator needs to organize critical information and determine what is necessary to share with responders, staff, and other stakeholders. Key details such as knowing the precise location of the threat, the number of people involved, and if anyone is harmed could speed up the decision-making process in the field or even change the response strategy. Information gaps and delays cost precious time and can impede critical decisions when every moment matters.
RapidDeploy's Lightning mobile application bridges this gap, delivering Next Generation 911 intelligence directly to field responders' mobile devices in real-time. Critical details such as the caller location, building floor plans, live incident updates, and live camera footage are available in real-time on responders' mobile devices. The result: responders arrive at the scene equipped with a full picture of the emergency and immediate access to evolving information. Real-time, actionable information has become a force multiplier for school emergencies, leading to time saved, improved outcomes, and the potential to help save lives.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how the Lightning mobile application empowers first responders during school emergencies.
School emergencies are inherently complex and fast-moving. The type of emergency incident at a school could range from a false alarm to a need for multi-layered response, such as during a medical crisis, active shooter, or fire. Information is often fast-moving and may come from multiple sources over time. Resources need to be carefully deployed and prioritized, with every decision potentially changing the outcome of the situation at hand.
One of the biggest challenges of a school emergency is pinning down the precise location of the incident. The physical layout of a campus might span several buildings or floors, with different layouts from school to school. More than half of school safety incidents occur in areas such as hallways, parking lots, or sports fields, where visibility is limited and locations are harder to pinpoint (CENTEGIX, 2024). Without advanced technology, responders might arrive on the scene and not know the exact location of the caller, threat, or incident. Precious time might be spent searching buildings, and resources could be deployed ineffectively. Threats can move, injuries might go unattended or people harmed. Having a complete picture of location details is critical to effective response.
Another common challenge for school emergencies is determining the difference between a false alarm and a true emergency. Approximately 90% of bomb threats, for example, turn out to be pranks (Arizona State University). Access to real-time information in the field enables the responding team to escalate or de-escalate the nature of the emergency, potentially saving resources that could be better allocated to different emergencies.
Communication issues compound these challenges. Callers might be unable to speak if they are in imminent danger, making it even more challenging to determine their location without technology tools. Multiple calls could come in at once, each with important details that impact decisions. Ultimately, the time spent parsing critical details and piecing together a full view of the incident could have been spent actively containing the emergency.
In this video, telecommunicators describe an incident at a school in Anderson County, South Carolina, where callers felt unsafe during a school lockdown. The telecommunicators swiftly moved the call to text so students inside the school could communicate without speaking.
RapidDeploy's FirstNet VerifiedTM Lightning mobile app bridges critical information gaps and communication delays by delivering Next Generation 911 intelligence directly to field responders' smartphones and tablets. Powered by Radius Mapping, Lightning extends the capabilities of the ECC into the field, providing officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel with the same real-time data and situational awareness that telecommunicators see on their screens.
Key Features Include:
To ensure seamless coordination without information overload, Lightning intelligently distributes tailored information to responders based on their specific role through a functionality called “Disciplines.” While the location of AEDs might be critical for EMS, for example, police are likely more concerned with optimal access points and positioning. Lightning ensures all agencies arrive with the same foundational intelligence (floor plans, location of callers, live video feeds) but prioritizes information to ensure time is spent effectively. Role-based intelligence mitigates coordination issues and enables a more efficient response by building a common operating picture unique to the incident and responder.
For school emergencies, Lightning has a transformative impact. From pre-arrival intelligence to ongoing situational awareness, instant access to critical information fundamentally shifts the response strategy, saves critical time, and has the potential to save lives.
When responders have access to Lightning, they are equipped with a wealth of pre-arrival intelligence at their fingertips. The more information responders have before arriving on scene, the better prepared they are to make decisions and act quickly. During the critical moments they are en route to a school emergency, dynamic information in Lightning lets responders identify ideal entry points, map out the fastest path to help those in need, and coordinate with other teams in a matter of minutes.
Data Received in Transit Informs:
To maximize pre-intelligence capabilities for first responders and ensure the fastest, most effective response possible, Lightning integrates seamlessly with mission-first, cutting-edge partners who share a relentless focus on making school environments safe::
When seconds can make a difference, responders must arrive prepared and ready to act. From the moment a call is received to arrival on the scene, the flow of information and communication needs to be instantaneous. Lightning makes this possible, leading to more effective decisions, safer operations, and critical seconds saved.
While pre-arrival intelligence helps responders coordinate the initial response strategy, school emergencies rarely remain static. Additional calls come in with new details, incidents move, and the nature of the threat can escalate or de-escalate within minutes. Responders need continuous access to real-time intelligence that adapts as emergencies unfold.
Lightning provides an evolving 360-degree view of school emergencies through a suite of real-time capabilities, including live video streaming, responder tracking, and two-way SMS communication.
Dynamic Intelligence Informs:
This continuous flow of intelligence ensures emergency teams maintain situational awareness throughout the entire incident. Responders are enabled to deploy resources strategically, coordinate with on-site personnel, and adapt their response as conditions change on the ground.
Across industries, access to information and technology levels the playing field. This is also true for emergency response, and in particular for complex scenarios like school emergencies. Delivering equitable response becomes especially challenging when communication barriers exist. Callers may speak a different language, be deaf or hard of hearing. Some callers might be unable to speak during an emergency, whether due to their own health conditions or safety of the environment around them. Lightning's built-in capabilities, including real-time translation and two-way SMS texting, help ensure communication barriers don't compromise response or delay time when responding to a school emergency.
By providing the same level of data, technology, and communication capabilities to every responding unit, Lightning helps create more equitable emergency response within communities that deploy the technology. And with Lightning’s real-time data feeds, responders are enabled to deliver a consistent, coordinated response across the entire district, whether responding to a small elementary school or a large urban campus.
Next Generation 911 is fundamentally changing how responders react when a school emergency unfolds. Lightning optimizes how time is spent from the moment a call comes in to when responders arrive at the scene, ensuring they arrive on campus with comprehensive intelligence. As conditions change and more information trickles in, field responders have immediate access to updates in order to evolve their response. Information is delivered instantly and intelligently in the palm of their hands, with role-based information and tools for seamless coordination.
For schools, this means informed decision-making, a more equitable response, an effective use of resources, and ultimately precious time saved during critical moments. When outcomes can change in mere seconds, Lightning equips field responders with the intelligence they need to protect students and staff.
To learn more about how Lightning can enhance emergency response in your jurisdiction, visit rapiddeploy.com/lightning.
