Tactical maps could aid emergency response

The Shawano School District plans to move forward on drafting tactical mapping for its four schools after the coronavirus pandemic delayed original plans to do so in 2020.

The district’s buildings and grounds committee heard an updated presentation on Feb. 17 from Joe Hanson, regional director for Critical Response Group. A Neenah resident, Hanson spent 11 years in special operations with the U.S. Marine Corps and is utilizing what he learned in the military to help law enforcement and emergency services in the event of a school shooting or some other disaster.

“In special operations, we use these communication tools for everything from training to missions,” Hanson said. “We’ve adapted that technology to domestic emergencies. We develop floor plans for schools, hospitals, even Six Flags.”

Critical Response Group, based in Trenton, New Jersey, is offering to map the district’s buildings and translate them to tactical grids for law enforcement to use for just under $10,000. The mapping cost could drop even more if the district were to partner with other school districts or other agencies, such as ThedaCare.

“We’ve done over 200 schools in Wisconsin, as well as some prominent businesses,” Hanson said. “The unfortunate thing about some of the clients is that they’re post-event. Oshkosh School District contacted us after they had the shooting at their high school.”

Hanson said that one common factor in law enforcement response after a mass shooting is unfamiliarity with the location where the incident occurred. He noted that his company combed through 20 years of after-action reports and found delays in providing help were a result of not knowing the terrain in 80% of the cases. The mapping allows clear and concise information to be dispatched in the event of an emergency, he said.

Hanson walked the committee through the emergency response for the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida in June 2016. He said it took well over an hour for help to reach victims still inside because the information they had was outdated.

“Nightclubs change owners. They undergo renovations, so they didn’t have an accurate depiction of the interior,” Hanson said. “They ended up wasting explosives breaching and trying to get into the building. Meanwhile, there’s a whole bunch of citizens desperately needing medical attention and couldn’t get it.”

“Coming home, we thought about what lessons learned overseas can we translate into our own business and use them for domestic response,” Hanson said. “What we find is, especially with schools, there’s a red binder that someone took a lot of time to figure out what to do in the event of an emergency, but it’s not a usable product for first responders who are coming to a location, often for the first time, and there are things they’re unfamiliar with. We want to take the information and turn it into a usable product.”

The updated maps would be provided digitally and could be distributed to school officials and area law enforcement agencies, according to Hanson, so that, if something bad were to happen at one of the schools, they would have the information on hand, and response times would be quicker.

The maps aren’t just for emergency response, Hanson noted. School staff can utilize the system for day-to-day operations, as well, he said.

The proposal from Critical Response Group is expected to go before the Shawano School Board in March.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com