While most of the world has experienced huge advances in communication technologies, and as we’ve gotten used to seeing the world around us from the sky through apps like Google Maps and Life 360, local law enforcement agencies are, for the most part, stuck in the past.
Edward McGovern spent 22 years in local law enforcement with the Hallandale Beach Police Department. He retired as a major in 2020, but as far back as 2017 he began to see the need for law enforcement to bring communication tech into the modern age.
For him it began when he responded to a mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in early 2017. A man opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol, killing five people and injuring six — more than 30 other people were injured in the ensuing panic.
During that event — and during the mass shooting in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland which his team also responded to — McGovern says all they had were two-way radios and a whiteboard, when he knew that surely a better way was possible.
So, he founded CERA-Critical Event Response Applications. It’s an app-based system that allows police to see the big picture view of what’s unfolding, and to communicate directly with people who are experiencing the mass shooting event, like students, teachers, or employees.
The CERA system has been acquired by the Hallandale Beach Police Department, and the Davie Police Department — and the school safety group “Stand With Parkland” is using some federal grant funding to help other departments get the system. No schools have yet to adopt the system because they need to be able to connect with law enforcement agencies, but that is expected to happen in the coming months.
Guest:
Edward McGovern, Founder & Chief Executive of CERA-Critical Event Response Applications.
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