Here is something that first responders can add to their arsenals of gear and carry everywhere with them, without any additional burden. The Hero911 app is designed for law enforcement personnel, for notification in the event of a school shooter situation. In the event of an active shooter incident at a school or on a campus, onsite personnel engages the “panic” button in the app, which sends a signal to qualified law enforcement personnel within a proscribed radius of 10-20 miles. A siren sound alerts first responders who are registered and verified in the system to respond if they are able. The app requests a response from the law enforcement officer that will indicate to onsite personnel whether the officer will be in uniform when arriving — crucial information so that uniformed officers and other personnel are aware that plain-clothes officers will be on hand, and that care will be needed to distinguish them from threat actors.

The Hero911 app was conceived to increase awareness of the active shooter situation, to bring more emergency personnel to the scene immediately, and to generally make the public feel safer in their communities. The Hero911 network is a volunteer organization consisting of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel sworn to help safeguard the community. Additional aims of the Hero911 network include expanding the relationships between law enforcement personnel and active shooter targets, and, most importantly, the shortening of the time between incident and police response, enabling the greatest chance to save the most lives.

Hero 911 is available via hero911.org, for both Apple and Android platforms.