K-12
Safe learning environments are disappearing! Schools are becoming persistently dangerous.
In the wake of tragic school shootings, there have been a slew of radical ideas introduced to fortify school safety. Suggestions range from providing teachers with hand guns to posting armed security guards in every classroom. While taking action is imperative, we cannot be brash in decision making. The National Association of School Resource Officers estimates the cost of just one armed guard to be $80,000 per year. Monetary issues aside, studies have shown that armed guards, metal detectors, and security cameras scare students, making them feel less secure. According to the National Association of School Psychologists, feeling safe is a prerequisite for a viable learning environment. For example, students’ reports of feeling unsafe are negatively correlated with test scores. Thus, even if these plans could improve some measures of safety, they would undermine the primary purpose of school – learning.
What if we could equip students and faculty with tools to defend themselves, using existing resources?
Imagine an app that could turn potential victims into safety assets.
There is a life threatening emergency… Students and faculty launch the app to fire a digital distress flare. Instantly, authorities receive the alert. They get a complete image of the situation; including GPS coordinates of where to respond, audio/video data, and possibly even a picture of the perpetrator. First responders are provided with the victim’s user profile and medical information. As more people launch the app, the situation clarifies: allowing help to respond quickly and effectively. Swiftly alerting staff of the threat allows them to remove students from imminent danger.
MyFlare Alert™ enables students, faculty, and staff to signal for help from anywhere, while providing responders with more complete information about emergency situations, allowing them to respond efficiently and effectively.
With the press of a button:
- Calls Campus Security or 911
- Every three minutes, automatically and continuously sends up to 5 MyFlare Distress Messages via SMS text and up to 5 Emails to the user’s pre-selected Contacts, which include the user’s current GPS location, alerting them that the user is in trouble.
- Simultaneously sends 20-second audio-video recordings, capturing the user’s present environment, which are attached to the delivered Emails (Frequency determined by the user)
- Instantly blasts an police siren continuously, except when the phone is in use
Recent Statistics:
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2011. MMWR, Surveillance Summaries 2012;61(no.SS-4).
*Robers S, Zhang J, Truman J, Synder TD. Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2011. National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Washington, DC; 2010.
Emergency Profile Summary
MyFlare Alert sends the user’s profile information with each distress message. Profile information provides responders with a physical description of the user, including a photo, making it faster and easier to identify them in a crowd. Information about the user’s allergies, pre-existing conditions, and medications could be critical in emergencies where urgent medical assistance is required.
Sometimes You Don’t Need a Panic Button – You Just Need to Report Incidents
In addition to providing a digital distress flare when a user is in imminent danger, MyFlare Alert allows students and faculty to report incidents they witness that could prove threatening to others. Incidents can be reported with a picture, a text, or a call, so they can be dealt with properly. A visual image provides responders with a picture of, the environment, victims and/or assailants. Images can also be useful as evidence in investigations and prosecutions. Reporting through text can be useful if the witness is unable to speak without being overheard. MyFlare Alert allows campus security to respond to reported incidents, while allowing them to quickly warn students and faculty of dangerous situations.
