ARANSAS PASS, Texas — After the tragic shooting at a STEM school in Colorado, Aransas Pass Police Chief Eric Blanchard was driven to secure APISD schools even more.
The Chief learned that during the shooting, police response time was around two minutes. He said their department averages about three minutes in a major emergency situation. Yet, he wants that to change, especially for the area's schools.
Chief Blanchard was able to secure five police radios to distribute to all five schools in the district. Each radio costs around $1,500 and he got each of them for free thanks to a generous donation from Dailey-Wells and Tango Tango.
"We've got a lot of great things and the school's got a lot of great things for this next school year season but any time we can add in to it, I'd rather have too much and not need it than too little when I do need it," he said.
Designated staff at each school will have access to the radio. With it, they can directly communicate with the police department instead of calling via phone. Chief Blanchard said it can also be used if any of the schools need the resource officer to arrive to their campus.
In addition to the radios, Chief Blanchard worked with Tango Tango, a software company, to secure licensing for a cell phone app. The app will be installed on school staffs' phones; it has similar abilities to the police radio and allows staff to communicate between schools.
While some of the schools have recieved their radio, Chief Blanchard said he will hold training this summer for the designated staff in order to fully implement the program next school year.