ANNA (WBAP/KLIF News ) – The City of Anna is installing new technology at City Hall that will improve police response and get residents to safety in the event of an active shooter.
It’s called “Go-To-Green” and uses color-coded lights to show citizens the pathway to clear a building and how to avoid encountering the shooter.
“Green means go. Red means stop. Red and blue flashing lights are the sensors closest to the shooter. Basically, when a shooter goes off those lights go green, red or blue. We use flashing lights because some people are color blind and those blinking lights tells them where to go,” said Ernest Williams, inventor and CEO of “Go-To-Green.”
In addition to the light system, the software also sends information to police.
“As the gun goes off, our cameras go around and we pick up the shooter. We’re able to watch him from a control center and we can talk to police as the shooter moves and we alert the police as to what is going on,” he said.
Williams a former Delta-Force veteran and member of Seal Team Six. He said he used his decades of experience in counterterrorism and the last six years to create the what the company touts as “the world’s first system designed with creating pathways to safety as its primary mission.”
The Dallas-based “Go-To-Green” has been welcomed by law enforcement in Anna. Police Chief Dean Habel said the potential impact of the software seems promising.
“Especially for locations that have long corridors. You know, our City Hall has some, hospitals, schools, stuff like that,” he said. “It goes with our main focus here in Anna which is we’re going to pull out all the stops when it comes to safety. We’ve got the support of the community and the support of council when it comes to public safety and this is just an enhancement of that commitment.”
The software can be used at schools, businesses and retail environments. It has also had trial runs in a defunct Texas shopping center.
Williams said he’s currently in negotiations with three school districts and 12 schools in Texas to install the technology.
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