GREEN BAY, Wis. — The deadly mass shooting at the Poway Synagogue in California on April 27th is the latest attack in a place of worship. In less than two months we’ve seen a sharp spike in mass shootings in churches, mosques, synagogues across the globe.
New technology, that is already being used in the Green Bay area, is helping first responders communicate more efficiently and effectively but more importantly, it has the ability to help pinpoint an attacker in hopes of saving lives.
In the past when first responders arrive on the scene of an active shooter in a large public place, often their biggest roadblock to keeping people safe is a lack of communication from the inside.
Marc Moore is the creator of ReadyOp. The database mobile software uses GPS technology, grid-style mapping, and real-time communication tools that can help show all first responders where the gunman is located and how to quickly locate them.
“It’s kind of like when you were a child playing Battleship and you had these little [pegs] things. That’s pretty much what you do. Go to Romeo13. That’s where you have two students barricaded."
All of that technology is housed in a smartphone app currently accessible by all 183 police officers in the Green Bay Police Department. Commander Paul Ebel helped to bring this technology to the department.
“Lambeau Field is gridded. The entire county is gridded-out. And I could put somebody with-in 100 feet of where I need them to go,” Ebel says. “It gives us the situational awareness of where the damage is,” Commander Ebel adds.
With the recent attacks in Poway and the Christian churches that rocked Sri Lanka these past couple weeks, our area churches have security top of mind. Gary Pusick is in charge of security at Celebration Church in Green Bay, a 100,000 square foot facility. On any given Sunday at this church, more than 1,200 people come to worship.
“We’re ramping things up and we’re more careful and these types of resources you’re talking about. I would welcome anything like that,” Pusick says.
Wednesday night on NBC26 at 10:00 we go behind the scenes of this new technology and introduce it to Celebration Church. We'll also show you how any public building can be protected for free with just a few clicks of the computer mouse.
