Geofenced Emergency Alert System for Law Enforcement Response
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for notifying law enforcement officers (LEOs) of armed intruder situations are inefficient, often resulting in delayed response times due to the lack of targeted and immediate alerts within specific geofenced areas.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method using stationary geofences to receive and send emergency alerts from school personnel to LEOs, including user input verification of uniform status and location-based notifications, ensuring timely and accurate responses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If traditional emergency notification systems are used to contact law enforcement officers, then the notification process is simple and direct, but the response time is delayed due to lack of targeted alerts within specific geofenced areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the notification process into segments: geofence creation, location tracking, conditional alerting, and targeted notification. By segmenting the system into these functional modules, it achieves rapid targeted response without overwhelming complexity, as each component handles a specific task independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-defining geofenced areas and pre-establishing notification protocols before emergencies occur. When an incident happens, the system immediately checks which LEOs are within relevant geofences and sends alerts without delay, eliminating the need for manual dispatch decisions during critical moments.
2Productivity
If location-based targeted alerts are implemented for LEOs, then response efficiency is improved, but the system complexity increases due to geofencing and location tracking requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses universal smartphone devices with built-in GPS and communication capabilities that LEOs already possess. By making the existing devices multi-functional for emergency alerts, location tracking, and communication, the system achieves targeted efficient response without requiring specialized complex equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system leverages the smartphone's own GPS and network capabilities to determine location and send alerts autonomously. The device self-identifies its position relative to geofences and automatically receives or sends notifications without requiring additional external tracking infrastructure, reducing overall system complexity.
3Loss of information
If uniform status verification is required from LEOs, then alert accuracy and appropriateness are improved, but the interaction complexity increases due to additional user input requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the critical piece of information needed (uniform status) from the LEO's response, rather than requiring comprehensive details. By taking out just this single binary choice, the system maintains high alert accuracy while minimizing interaction complexity to a simple yes/no input.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by having LEOs confirm their uniform status, which provides crucial information for determining appropriate response protocols. This feedback loop ensures alert accuracy by matching the response strategy to the LEO's visible identification status, while the simple confirmation process keeps interaction complexity low.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method executed by one or more computer servers includes receiving a notification from a communication device, determining whether one or more other communication devices are within a stationary geofence, and in response to the notification, sending an emergency alert to the other communication devices determined to be within the stationary geofence. The computer-implemented method may further include receiving an acknowledgement of the emergency alert from at least one of the other communication devices determined to be within the stationary geofence and/or sending data indicating an approximate location of the communication device and an associated tolerance of the approximate location. Other example computer-implemented methods, communication devices including software applications, and systems are also disclosed.