Schools Employ Warzone Tech Ahead of Next Mass Shooting

September 24, 2015

Tags: Acoustic Sensor, Terror
Posted in: Post-Constitution America

So here we are America. Schools are now using some of the same tech deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in some of America’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods, to protect their students against the inevitable next mass shooting. #Pride

Even more sad, the new devices show we have given up on preventing mass shootings, and are now simply looking for ways to minimize the carnage when they do happen.

The devices now being installed in a growing number of schools are acoustic sensors (pictured) which listen for the sound of gunfire, and are then able to pinpoint its location and alert authorities.

Such tools are common on the battlefield and alert soldiers from which direction they are taking incoming fire. The sensors are very good; in urban combat environments, echoes off buildings can confuse a response. The sensors use sophisticated technology to sift out the echoes, and can even estimate range. Some can even make educated guesses on what kind of weapon is being used, based on the sound of the incoming rounds. Cities such as New York also have such sensors installed on streets prone to gun violence.

Back in the Homeland, there’s even an app. If gunfire is detected on campus, the school principal and local law enforcement get an “active shooter alert” sent to their desktop computers and cellphones with precise details about where the shooting occurred in the building. The senors, according to one manufacturer, also integrate with auto-lockdown technologies (that company’s toll-free number is 1-844-SHOT911.)

Interest in these systems appears to be growing, seeded by the companies that make the devices, and driven by school administrators grappling with how to keep students safe. Inquiries also spike after each school shooting as Americans love them some overreaction.

And in an America that increasingly relies on the search for new products to peddle, the sensors are also good business. The gunshot-detection systems can cost $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the size of a school.

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