Drones developed by a Texas-based firm for prompt response to school shootings incidents
In a bid to enhance school safety, private schools across the United States are collaborating with Campus Guardian Angel, a Texas-based company, to secure their premises using drone-based active shooter response systems.
Justin Marston, the founder and CEO of Campus Guardian Angel, has developed a system that demonstrates significant potential in reducing response times and enhancing situational awareness during school shootings. The system deploys autonomous drones from pre-staged charging stations on school rooftops or inside buildings, capable of reaching and confronting a shooter in as little as 15 to 60 seconds.
One of the key advantages of this system is its rapid deployment and reduced response time. The drones launch automatically or at the push of an emergency alert and navigate autonomously or are remotely piloted, reaching the threat location often 1-2 minutes faster than officers on foot. This speed advantage is crucial, as most shooting incidents happen within the first 2-3 minutes, often before police arrive.
The drones also provide enhanced situational awareness for responders. They offer live, high-definition video streams from inside the buildings directly to police, 911 dispatchers, and school officials. This "eyes inside" capability helps identify shooter location, number of threats, and potential victims in real time, allowing law enforcement to develop more informed tactical plans.
In addition, the drones are equipped with non-lethal options such as pepper balls, powder pellets, flashbangs, and kinetic impact maneuvers to incapacitate or distract the shooter, thereby reducing the risk of collateral damage to students, staff, and officers.
Campus Guardian Angel operates remotely from a central command center, managing multiple schools nationwide with digital twins of school layouts integrated with sensor feeds, allowing swift tactical responses without requiring on-site pilots.
The company claims affordability, with the cost amounting to around $4 per student per month, making it scalable for large districts and potentially increasing adoption. Florida has already started pilot projects in several counties, indicating growing institutional interest and validation.
While independent, peer-reviewed studies on the system’s efficacy in real-world shootings are not yet publicly available, the combination of faster deployment, improved intelligence gathering, and less lethal engagement suggests a meaningful enhancement to school safety protocols beyond traditional law enforcement response alone.
The drones are stored in charging boxes inside schools, ready to deploy in an emergency. Once activated, they fire powder pellets to incapacitate a shooter within 60 seconds. The system is gaining traction and is being considered by various educational institutions, with private schools in other states also expressing interest.
For more information about the Campus Guardian Angel drone system, users can access an app available on the company's website. Taylor Penley, an associate editor with the website, has provided updates on the system's development and implementation. The cost for protecting a child with the Campus Guardian Angel drone system for their entire K-12 education is approximately the same as a one-way domestic economy flight ticket.
In summary, Campus Guardian Angel's drone system is a promising technological innovation capable of significantly reducing response times and enhancing law enforcement's ability to manage school shooting incidents effectively and safely through early confrontation, real-time intelligence, and less lethal suppression tools.
The drone system developed by Campus Guardian Angel, a Texas-based company, showcases potential in the realm of data-and-cloud-computing through the integration of digital twins of school layouts for swift tactical responses. On the political front, the affordability of this system, priced at around $4 per student per month, may influence its widespread adoption in large educational institutions. With the rising interest in this technology among schools, the economy of various private education sectors could experience significant growth due to the subscription-based service. Moreover, the integration of non-lethal options like pepper balls, powder pellets, flashbangs, and kinetic impact maneuvers in the drones aligns well with the growing trend towards technology in gadgets that prioritize safety and minimizing harm.
