For our nation's first responders, training is key to
ensuring their skills and reflexes remain sharp.
But what happens when First Responders are our
teachers or school administrators?
Training is not only essential-it can be life-saving.
That's why the Department of Homeland Security Science
and Technology Directorate and its partners at the
U.S. Army have given all our nation's responders a
critical EDGE on training and preparedness.
EDGE, or the Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment,
uses video game technology to immerse First Responders
and Educators in a training platform
where they can collaborate.
EDGE is a virtual training tool that we've developed in
partnership with the United States Army
and what it does is it allows folks to be able to train in a
virtual environment that is very similar to what
they would do in real life.
In most school shootings the Educators are going to be
the First Responders. This gives the school the best
opportunities to identify, recognize, prevent or
mitigate a shooting situation.
EDGE allows schools and response agencies to virtually
train together or by themselves anytime they want.
And the best part? It's available to them for free.
I thought it was fantastic! Certainly as school people
we have been very immersed in all kinds of training
with regard to active shooters and school safety, but
this was unique in that it allowed us to train together.
EDGE being a free tool benefits a lot of schools because
money is always a big issue so the fact this is
free of cost, it makes it a no-brainer in a lot of ways.
There are no winners or losers, no high scores . . .
only a safe space where role-players can use avatars
representing real-life roles.
It's just another tool that we can stick in our toolbox.
It will allow us to do more training and be more interactive.
Not only on a police end, but also on an educational end.
At the end of the day, it's all about safe students,
secure schools, and resilient communities.
Well, this is all about protecting our kids in our schools.
And to me there is nothing more important that,
and anything that helps us keep our kids safe
is something that we need to pay attention to.
With, EDGE, The Department of Homeland Security
Science and Technology Directorate, is rethinking
our approach to preparedness.
For more information, please visit us on the web.