Three students have been killed and two students were injured in a shooting at an Ohio school Monday.
Kansas City area authorities say they are ready to use new technology if such a tragedy strikes closer to home.
Most police departments have maps or drawings that they can turn to if a gunman is roaming the halls of a school.
In Prairie Village, they also have a computer program to guide them during a worst-case scenario.
“I don’t think words can truly express how horrible it is. You just don’t know when and where the next one is going to happen,” said Seth Meyer, a Prairie Village police officer who also serves as a school resource officer.
Meyer has developed a computer program called School Crisis Mapping, which he says will help other responding emergency personnel know what Prairie Village schools look like with a few clicks of a mouse.
The program provides officers with a virtual tour of every room at Shawnee Mission East High School. The virtual sites can be accessed from laptops in patrol cars or in command centers.
“Not only can I figure out how to get to that classroom, I can click on an image and spin around the room and see what a classroom looks like. I can see a door, a closet and see that there are windows that don’t even show on the map,” Meyer said. “But that’s something important to know.”
Officers taking up positions inside a school can see the same information on their smart phones.
Area universities are also interested in integrating the mapping system into their security measures.
Meyer emphasizes that the technology won’t prevent shootings, but will provide officers with vital information when every second counts and lives are at stake.
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