Veteran-founded group enhancing school emergency response
The organization uses mapping technology based on military experience to help first responders during crises.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A veteran-founded organization is leveraging mapping technology to help first responders during crises in Tennessee. The Critical Response Group (CRG) aims to enhance emergency response systems in schools across the state.
The CRG, founded by veterans, started with a straightforward goal: ensuring accurate maps of schools for public safety and law enforcement use during emergencies. Veteran Alex Carney is the Chief Strategy Officer at CRG.
Drawing from their battlefield experience, Carney said the group adapted military mapping and communication techniques for public safety application.
“What we did is we took how we map and plan and communicate in that [military] environment, and we applied the same philosophy or the same techniques to help public safety could map in big complicated buildings, like a high school that they’re not familiar with,” Carney said.
These maps transform standard floor plans into actionable tools for police and fire departments, Carney said. They include specific details such as locations of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs), security cameras, and the names of hallways, enabling all emergency teams to coordinate effectively. They help update existing school maps.
“We’ll take what the school uses currently, whether it’s good, bad or ugly, and then we come out and we walk every single structure on that campus,” Carney said. “After we do the walkthrough, we move into the second part of our process, which is making sure that all of the different public safety agencies that respond to that school have access to the maps that we’ve made.”
Carney highlighted the importance of these maps, not just for worst-case scenarios like active shooter situations, but also for more common emergencies. “The most common call for service at a school could be a minor medical emergency, and making sure an ambulance parks at the right doors is probably just as important in that scenario,” he said.
CRG is currently mapping schools in five Tennessee school districts, including Cumberland, Marshall, and Van Buren counties. Carney said this initiative is part of their ongoing effort to ensure that first responders have the critical information they need to act swiftly and effectively in any emergency.
For more information about the Critical Response Group’s work, visit their website.
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