Brosowsky said GeoComm plans to use this pilot
program to create a regional best practice —
and later expand across the state and country.
The next phase, Grones said, is mapping all the
schools in the three area counties.
“We’re willing to do that for free,” he said.
Grones said the technology is ripe for any large
campus with potential threats such as a mall.
“It makes sense for any large facility,” he said.
The next steps, Brosowsky said, will be implementing
a panic app that teachers could use.
The app would alert the 911 dispatch center and
building and district administration, who could
assist sooner than first responders might get to
the site.
Within the next month or so, the maps for area
schools should be up and running, and the
panic app will soon follow, Brosowsky said.
St. Cloud school district Superintendent Willie
Jett said the app and the new consumer location
technology will not only be beneficial for threats
— but for health incidents in schools, too.
“If it’s as simple as it seems and as it sounds,
our staff will clamor to get it,” Jett said. “They’ll
demand it.”
St. Cloud Police Cmdr. Jim Steve echoed Jett’s
sense of urgency.
“You talk about staff clamoring for it, we’re
clamoring for it,” Steve said. “We want to get
there as quick as possible — the safest route, the
quickest route — we want to see where it’s at.
The quicker we get there, the better chance we
have to diffuse the situation.”