Working with first responders—the men and women who protect and serve their communities—is one of the most humbling and rewarding parts of our work here at Norris Inc. Last Tuesday we addressed why it is beneficial for organizations to have an Emergency Notification System, if you missed it, you can read that post here. Today we want to share a current project that we’re thrilled about!

The Town of Gray, Maine, turned to Norris Inc. when they decided they wanted to upgrade their emergency notification and communications capabilities. Town officials have chosen Vigilance Software’s innovative systems integration engine, to help create a safer environment for their municipal buildings, personnel and residents.

The goal for this project is to allow town employees to have greater access to both emergency and informational communications, as well as to allow the town to leverage their existing systems most efficiently and effectively. The scope of the project involves improving functionality of systems and deploying the Vigilance software platform in seven municipal buildings, including Town Hall, Central Fire Station, the Transfer Station and the Gray Public Library.

Once fully integrated, the Vigilance platform will give designated users the power to push out site-specific emergency notifications, announce general information such as building closures, lockdown a threatened facility, blast out Amber Alert-type notifications at the town level, if for example a child unexpectedly doesn’t show up for a sports practice. Vigilance will also integrate into new systems Norris Inc. puts in place and allow for the appropriate personnel be alerted to unexpected building temperature fluctuations.

What really stands out about the software is its powerful integration capability. Not only will Vigilance accept inputs from existing systems and generate automatic alerts to instantly notify appropriate individuals, but there is still a human layer of user-initiated protection that ensures the best course of action is taken in any given situation. For example, if an active shooter enters Town Hall, a clerk can with the click of one virtual button on their desktop screen initiate a silent alarm to authorities, initiate a building-wide lockdown, and apprise all other users, via text, email and computer pop-up, of the exact situation so they can respond in the most efficient manner.

There are many more customizable ways in which the Town of Gray can use Vigilance, as their needs change and they face new challenges. We have designed their system to their current specifications and are now in the beginning phases of hardware installation for the town. We can’t wait for them to have everything up and running!

If you would like to learn more about Vigilance Software and potential applications for an emergency notification system in your organization please reach out to our Security, Access and Vigilance Systems Integrator for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, Dan Gelinas at 207-249-5505.