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Savannah College of Arts and Design Installs Gunshot-Detecting Technology on Campus

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Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has adopted new gun-detecting technology that can locate a gun shot on campus in less than a minute.

According to WSAV, SCAD installed SST Inc.'s ShotSpotter this week to help first responders handle a school shooting faster than ever before. The Savannah, Ga. campus will also be equipped with 600+ cameras to compliment the technology.

ShotSpotter will relay the location of a gunshot straight to the Savannah-Chatham Metro police station.

"The technology detects gunfire and helps police pinpoint the threat in seconds," SCAD Security Director John Buckovich told WSAV. "When gunfire is detected within our campus area whether it's inside or outside an alert will come on screen.

"It will tell you how many rounds were fired, it will tell you very closely within about 25 meters where the shot occurred, and it will tell you if the individual shooting the rounds is moving."

SST said on its website that an emergency shooting is not called into law enforcement for an average of three to five minutes. ShotSpotter will allow students to run straight for cover while law enforcement is automatically contacted in less than a minute.

While school shootings are generally rare, they can happen and they can happen anywhere. Kathryn Larrabee, a student at SCAD, said the ShotSpotter has reinforced her feeling of overall safety.

"It's kind of hard with an open campus to get that balance of security and letting us learn at the same time so I think this secure campus is really exciting for us students to know that they will be there no matter what," Larrabee.

Buckovich echoed that sentiment, stating that this measure is for that rare incident.

"And once again, it's not because Savannah's this hotbed of crime," he told the SST website. "It's about being proactive. In case anything were to happen on our campus, we want to be able to respond quickly and know exactly what we're responding to."

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