WEBVTT

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For our nation's first responders, training is key to

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ensuring their skills and reflexes remain sharp.

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But what happens when First Responders are our

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teachers or school administrators?

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Training is not only essential-it can be life-saving.

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That's why the Department of Homeland Security Science

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and Technology Directorate and its partners at the

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U.S. Army have given all our nation's responders a

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critical EDGE on training and preparedness.

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EDGE, or the Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment,

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uses video game technology to immerse First Responders

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and Educators in a training platform

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where they can collaborate.

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EDGE is a virtual training tool that we've developed in

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partnership with the United States Army

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and what it does is it allows folks to be able to train in a

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virtual environment that is very similar to what

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they would do in real life.

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In most school shootings the Educators are going to be

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the First Responders. This gives the school the best

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opportunities to identify, recognize, prevent or

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mitigate a shooting situation.

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EDGE allows schools and response agencies to virtually

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train together or by themselves anytime they want.

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And the best part? It's available to them for free.

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I thought it was fantastic! Certainly as school people

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we have been very immersed in all kinds of training

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with regard to active shooters and school safety, but

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this was unique in that it allowed us to train together.

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EDGE being a free tool benefits a lot of schools because

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money is always a big issue so the fact this is

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free of cost, it makes it a no-brainer in a lot of ways.

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There are no winners or losers, no high scores . . .

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only a safe space where role-players can use avatars

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representing real-life roles.

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It's just another tool that we can stick in our toolbox.

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It will allow us to do more training and be more interactive.

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Not only on a police end, but also on an educational end.

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At the end of the day, it's all about safe students,

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secure schools, and resilient communities.

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Well, this is all about protecting our kids in our schools.

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And to me there is nothing more important that,

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and anything that helps us keep our kids safe

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is something that we need to pay attention to.

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With, EDGE, The Department of Homeland Security

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Science and Technology Directorate, is rethinking

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our approach to preparedness.

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For more information, please visit us on the web.