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Lynnfield company putting police alert buttons in classrooms and offices

MEDWAY, Mass. — A company based in Lynnfield is trying to improve response time to active shooter situations.

InForceTechnology CEO Brandon Flanagan showed Boston 25 News how the software goes inside schools or offices to help speed up the response to an active shooter.

"So we deploy our application inside a school and throughout a school district to enable teachers and faculty and staff to send an alert to law enforcement in just a matter of 12 seconds or less," Flanagan explained.

It is seconds and minutes that can make a world of difference when calling 911 on your cell phone and trying to give important information while facing unimaginable situations.

With this new app, police units on the street would get a special alert along with specific information on the threat, right down to the classroom location.

Medway Police Lt. Bill Kingsbury says it's invaluable.

"With this system, our people on the road find out immediately," Kingsley said. "The alert goes off an then they're headed in this direction and intel can be sent to them directly rather than through the 911 lines."

The Medway School District is one of 30-40 communities in the Commonwealth using this program.

It goes beyond just alerting authorities but opens up the lines of communications for two-way conversations during a crisis and not requiring a phone.

"This provides a secure and private line of communication between the facility and dispatcher at the police department as well as the officers so there's real-time information about what's going on," Medway Superintendent Armand Pires said.

A real-time answer to what they hope will never be the real thing.

"In these situations, we recognize that time equals lives," Flanagan said. "So the sooner we can get law enforcement on scene to stop the threat to mitigate that situation, the sooner we'll be able to save lives in that circumstance."