KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Since the Michigan State University shooting in 2023 — law enforcement and schools across the state have been working to better ensure the safety of their students.
Now — as students are back to school — the Kent County Sheriff's Office has a plan.
I got to talk to Rockford High School Principal Tom Hosford about their school's safety protocols and how they plan to implement this new system.
It's not just Rockford High School — this Emergency Radio Network is now active in roughly 300 schools throughout Kent County.
This new initiative with the Kent County Sheriff's Office is more important now than ever.
Undersheriff Bryan Muir said, “What this network will allow is a direct communication from our schools back to the dispatch centers, both here for Kent County Sheriff's Office and the city of Grand Rapids.”
Muir shared details of its now active $2.8 million Emergency Radio Network. It's as simple as the push of a big, red button.
“Anytime they feel there's a critical need for law enforcement at their school building, they just have to press a red button on a radio,” Muir said.
According to Muir, once the button is pushed, their dispatch centers are triggered.
“It’s a big step forward for our platform for real time crime information here in Kent County,” Muir said.
Each of the 300 schools apart of this Emergency Radio Network have a radio identifier telling police what school is in need of their help.
Muir said, “It just allows us to get police there almost immediately, versus having to wait to establish that communication through traditional means.”
But what makes this Emergency Radio Network better than just calling 911?
Muir remarked, “We may receive 100 — 200 — 500 cell phone calls all to our 911 system.” Therefore,
“We need to know where's the best place to either save lives or make sure that we can end an incident as quickly as possible,” Muir added.
So, if something like what happened at Michigan State University were to happen anywhere in Kent County — “It will get us in communication with law enforcement that much faster,” Principal Hosford said.
Undersheriff Bryan Muir tells me that this is just the beginning for what the Kent County Sheriff's Office plans to do in the months and years to come. They're hoping that the next step is to integrate ring cameras into a platform where they can obtain information in real time to know how to best send their resources.
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