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4+ day, 11+ hour ago (700+ words) Florida is preparing to launch the nation's first state-funded drone pilot program designed to stop active school shooters, but families affected by the 2018 Parkland massacre have mixed feelings about the innovative approach. The pilot program, set to begin early next year in Broward, Volusia and Leon counties, will invest more than $550,000 in public funds to deploy encrypted drones operated remotely by professional pilots in Austin, Texas, more than 1,000 miles away from Florida schools. Florida's Department of Education recently announced the school districts participating in the pilot program. Tony Montalto and Debbie Hixon, both members of Stand with Parkland, shared their concerns about the program during recent interviews with Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone. Montalto lost his 14-year-old daughter, Gina, in the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, while Hixon's husband, Chris, the school's athletic director, was also among…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago (261+ words) A taxpayer-funded program to test whether drones can ward off school shooters is set to launch in three Florida districts by the beginning of next year. The Florida Legislature approved $557,000 to fund the pilot program in Broward, Leon and Volusia school districts. Campus Guardian Angel, an Austin, Texas-based company running the program, uses non-lethal drones equipped with sirens, pepper spray and other devices to try to distract shooters and prevent them from hurting anyone, according to the company. The drones are remotely operated and designed to confront active shooter threats, the company said. They also provide real-time audio and video feeds to law enforcement during potential threats on school campuses, the Florida Department of Education said. The drones do not have guns; the company said those could increase the risk of bullets passing through walls and injuring or killing bystanders....

2+ week, 1+ day ago (98+ words) Three Florida school districts will participate in the Campus Guardian Angel Program to test drone technology designed to stop school shooters before they can kill. Investigative reporter Katie LaGrone traveled to Texas to take you inside the command center where the drone pilots are about to launch their skills. Three Florida school districts will participate in the Campus Guardian Angel Program to test drone technology designed to stop school shooters before they can kill. Investigative reporter Katie LaGrone traveled to Texas to take you inside the command center where the drone pilots are about to launch their skills....

2+ week, 5+ day ago (537+ words) LITTLE ROCK (KATV) " A company called Campus Guardian Angel has designed a drone-based security system to protect school students from active shooter threats. Conway police and school district officials got to see that system in action during a demonstration Tuesday. The company was actually inspired by the use of small drones in the Ukraine war, and has set out to use them non-lethally to protect school students. The company gave presentations Tuesday at Conway High School demonstrating how the security system works. For a school Conway High's size, as many as 60 drones would be stored, dormant in boxes around campus. In the event of an active shooter scenario, the drones would be quickly activated and respond in the critical minutes before law enforcement are able to get on scene. "The key thing in school safety is that most of the…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago (797+ words) On November 17, the Florida Department of Education announced that three school districts, including Broward County Public Schools, would join a new statewide initiative aimed at deterring potential active shooters in K-12 schools. Developed in Texas and known as the Campus Guardian Angel program, the program uses drones armed with less-than-lethal pepper spray bullets, flash bangs, and sirens to "distract active shooters" during a potential mass shooting. The drones are flown remotely and controlled by a team of "elite human pilots" from an operations center in Texas. How it works: the drones would already be onsite in "charging pads" at the schools and deployed in as little as 15 seconds to confront a potential shooter after a panic button has been activated. The drones use an escalation of force process and can ram into a potential shooter at up to 60 mph (which CEO…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago (619+ words) Three school districts, including one in Central Florida, will be a part of a new statewide effort to use drones to improve safety in K-12 schools. Broward and Leon school districts, and Volusia County Schools in Central Florida, have been chosen to participate in the Campus Guardian Angel Pilot Program. In some schools, the program will use drones designed by Texas company Campus Guardian Angel to distract and disarm an active shooter in the event of a mass shooting and to collect audio and video of potential threats. CEO Justin Marston said the drones, which can be deployed in as little as 5 seconds after a panic button has been activated, use an escalation of force process. They deploy from near the ceiling. "We start off with the siren, and we tell the person to drop the gun, lay on the ground,…...