Charles Lombardi, Mayor
“The Active Shooter threat unfortunately continues to rise and is a reality that we cannot ignore. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that this problem does not exist or that it could never happen here.”
The Guardian Indoor Active Shooter Detection System is installed in all seven schools in North Providence. The North Providence Police Department can monitor the school maps from the Guardian System and associated camera feeds with integration into their ExacqVision VMS System.
Law Enforcement experts agree that effective response to an active shooter incident depends on sending immediate notification with reliable incident details to police in order to immediately address an active shooter situation in progress and reduce the incident’s duration to save lives. At the North Providence High School, the Guardian System is integrated into the school’s camera surveillance system to provide advanced situational awareness while providing immediate notification of gunshots, allowing for rapid response by First Responders and building occupants.
“As important as 911 is to police response, people under extreme stress are not always the most reliable source of information, and perpetrators move quickly”, says Chief of Police Christopher Pelagio. “The Guardian system sends real-time intelligence with the exact location of an active shooter, instantaneously to dispatch, allowing our officers to find and neutralize the threat without tragic delays.”
Having served 21 years as a volunteer Firefighter and First Responder for North Providence, Mayor Charles Lombardi is passionate about the safety of North Providence. “As Director of Public Safety for North Providence, this technology stood out as the obvious choice to address this threat proactively,” said Lombardi. “The schools are the start of a program, one that we plan to spread citywide, to all municipal buildings, starting here in our schools, because the safety of our children comes first for all of us.”
North Providence, Rhode Island: (L) Police Officers move towards a mock active shooter suspect based on gunshot detection and location alerts from the Guardian Indoor Active Shooter Detection System during an Active Shooter Response drill at the High School; (R) Mayor Charles Lombardi speaks to the media about his plans to install active shooter detection in schools and municipal buildings.
Building occupants also need this information to safely implement their active shooter/evacuation training protocols and make the best decisions to save their own lives during a terrifying situation. Superintendent of Schools Madeline Smith sees the value in the system’s notification capabilities. “I need to know immediately if there is a threat of violence of any kind unfolding at any of our nine schools. This system will send me a text message with the school name, location, number of shots and in real time,” said Smith. “From an administrative perspective, I can address the crisis immediately and with confidence that police are already responding to the threat. We hope this system is never needed, but it gives us the peace of mind, knowing that help will immediately be on its way and with fast, accurate information.”
