In the first of what the Indiana Sheriff’s Association hopes will be 11 pilot schools, a high school in downstate Shelby County is getting a new school security system aimed at responding more effectively to school violence.
Sheriff’s Association spokesman Stephen Luce says teachers at Southwestern High School in Hanover will be given key fobs and access to a room-by-room notification system.
If a teacher presses the button around their neck, their classroom will lock and they’ll be able to tell Shelby County authorities which rooms are safe and which require assistance.
Luce says once the system is activated, police will know immediately where on the school’s floor plan to go, based on information generated by teachers using the mapping software.
"It actually links school, real-time, to law enforcement dispatch center," Luce says. "So if you have an active shooter or a life-threatening situation, you've got video and you have a direct radio communication to the school, the teachers."
Luce says teachers need to be more engaged with school security than they have in the past and this system allows for that.