Rapid Responder steps up high school security

School and emergency personnel in the Basin anticipate the advantages of new security system

COLUMBIA BASIN —In the event of an emergency situation, seconds become vital to saving human lives. That is why more than 400 high schools across the Columbia Basin and the state of Washington are in the process of implementing Rapid Responder, a Web-based software program designed to give emergency personnel extensive mapping of school facilities to assist in rescue operations.

This will allow police, fire and other first responders to view inside the scene of an emergency situation using a laptop computer to locate possible intruders while maintaining the safety of students, said Sam Lorenz, director of Emergency Management for Grant County.

"Rapid Responder could even be used to set up emergency shelters or large school events such as proms," Lorenz added.

Officials at the Washington State Department of Emergency Management say that while Rapid Responder is being implemented at the high school level, there are plans to use the program at the middle school and elementary school levels.

In recent months, extensive mapping at high schools across the state has been done to provide first responders with a detailed layout of school facilities, including floor plans, site maps, utility control locations and hazardous materials storage locations.

Rapid Responder will better enable emergency personnel to assess where to go and when, said Captain Dave Ruffin with the Moses Lake Police Department.

Ruffin said police and other first responders went through training last winter, discussing a number of possible scenarios in preparation to use the new security system.

Schools across the Basin are convinced that Rapid Responder will provide adequate safety for students and the community at large.

"This will save time and pull up information on our school before emergency personnel even arrive on scene," said Shane Couch, principal at Soap Lake High School.

In Moses Lake, school officials see the implementation of a security system like Rapid Response as an additional safeguard to prevent tragedies like the one that took place at Frontier Middle School in 1996 when a 14-year-old student held a classroom hostage at gunpoint and shot and killed a teacher and two classmates.

"Those types of incidents are rare, but we still need to prepare for them," said Steve Chestnut, superintendent for the Moses Lake School District.

Chestnut said mapping systems like the one being established at Moses Lake High School are being developed at Frontier Middle School and Chief Moses Middle School as well.

The development of Rapid Responder has come after assessment of school tragedies at the state and national levels and in 2003 a statewide initiative was launched in cooperation with the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA), the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), legislators and Prepared Response, Inc., a Seattle-based company that helped develop Rapid Responder.

The Washington State Legislature has allocated roughly $1 million to perform security assessments between 2003 and 2005 at high schools across the state.

"In order to provide an environment where children are able to learn and grow, we must ensure that they feel completely safe in their surroundings," said Joe Pope, chairman of the Washington State Safe School Advisory Committee in a recent press release statement.

Prepared Response Inc., expects all of the high school plans to be available to first responders by January of 2005.