00:00At a stand here ground public consultation on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bissessa disclosed that she has a panic button installed in her home.
00:09She noted that while not everyone can afford high-end security systems or may feel comfortable keeping a firearm, panic buttons offer an accessible way to protect themselves from criminal elements.
00:21Dirk Barnes, Chief Executive Officer of Air Support Tactical, welcomed the Prime Minister's endorsement.
00:27He explained that panic button technology has advanced significantly over the years, moving from simple devices in homes to GPS-enabled apps that can immediately alert loved ones or security providers and even transmit a user's location.
00:45If you go on your mobile phone, there is an emergency SOS function, both Android and iOS, and you can use that as well to alert your loved ones, but you could also send it to a security provider.
00:54Dirk Barnes said his company offers a wide range of security services, from home alarm systems to GPS tracking on vehicles, and recently introduced a new service called Drone Guard.
01:06So what happens is that you press the panic button, this alerts two parts of our company, what we call flight ops and our special operations, special operations that the responders that you would have seen a while ago in the vehicle.
01:16Now, the flight ops, people are going to take that information, enter it into the drone guard system, and send the drone in the air.
01:24Now, the drone is going to fly autonomously straight to where the panic button would have originated and then goes into a holding pattern.
01:29The operator at that point in time can zoom in, you could use thermal if it was at night.
01:34We could even look at the perimeter and the outside perimeter, the residential area, to see if there are any cars waiting, looking at the heat signature.
01:40So there's a lot of things we can do with the technology, but most importantly, we could forward all of that live stream to the officers that are responding.
01:48So the officers that are responding are getting situationally aware of what is taking place at that particular panic location.
01:54We could also send it to the TTPs.
01:55But for those who may not be tech savvy or worry about the cost of such a system, Barnes said options still exist.
02:03The good part about our drone guard system is that we could take information from anywhere via SMS.
02:09So if a person, for example, has a typical home alarm system, we could receive those messages.
02:14If it is they want to have a panic button that they could keep on them or around their neck, we have those as well for sale.
02:19For us in zone one, it's $450 a month per residential unit.
02:23So if you have five people inside of the unit, they could all have the app on their phone, or they could have a panic button located to them.
02:28Panic button technology continues to evolve, offering households from high-tech users to less digitally inclined accessible tools for peace of mind and quicker emergency response.
Be the first to comment