West ISD a Testing Ground for New Emergency Alert System

Schools in West will soon host a new software tool that allows teachers and students to alert police without calling 911.

The program is called COPsync, and it allows a person to contact police by opening a computer program and clicking a single icon that will contact up to five of the closest emergency officials. The program will also send school floor plans and lock down procedures to police and allow users to type messages detailing the threat and updating police of changing situations. The intention is to let police know exactly what they’ll be dealing with when they arrive and to keep them informed if and when a dangerous situation changes. Messages will even be sent to the cell phones of officers responding to the scene.

COPsync is set to be installed into 250 computers across the West ISD next month. The district is piloting the program for free for the next two years, which will save them around $14,000 in installation and operating costs.

Other area school districts may soon embrace the program as well, which is estimated to cost around $1,200 per school year.