How A Retired Law-Enforcement Dad
Is Helping Keep Children Safe In Schools
- PostEagle
- March 21, 2019
- Uncategorized
- Featured
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Tom Czyz spent years as a homicide detective and SWAT team member protecting and serving the public. And as a father of six, he made promises to protect his children too. But when it came to school shootings, despite all his law enforcement training, it was a promise he feared he couldn’t keep.
“I remember holding each of my children when they were born and promising them that daddy will keep them safe. I am a police officer and a SWAT Team operator and I cannot keep that promise. If an active shooter happens at their school, it will take me about 20 minutes to get to them,” said Czyz. “The average active shooter attack at a school lasts 8 minutes and on average someone is shot every 8 seconds during the attack. At this rate, I am essentially useless to my kids.” That reality didn’t sit well with Czyz.
On December 14th, 2012 a gunman who later killed himself shot 20 children between six and seven years old and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. The horrific crime shocked and saddened a nation. It spurred Czyz to act.
Czyz’s concern led him to found Armoured One, a company dedicated to keeping kids safe at school. Its staff is comprised of mothers and fathers with experience in mass shootings and security. Most held careers in federal and local law enforcement, military special ops and the Department of Homeland Security before joining Armoured One.
The company, headquartered in Syracuse, New York, offers products like film and glass that are resistant to shootings and bombings along with training, assessments and preparedness plans customized to each individual school, be it an elementary school or college campus. While safety is the top priority, Czyz says it’s important to achieve that without turning a secure learning environment into a prison-like atmosphere.
Since its founding in 2012, Armoured One has taught active shooter training to tens of thousands of school staff members across the country. The company says its security assessments have helped guide capital project decisions that have saved lives and its products have been in place in actual active shooter situations where they passed their greatest test – no lives were lost.
Still, Czyz says more work needs to be done to ensure all schools are as safe as they can be.
“We need parents, school staff and politicians to join us in securing our schools,” he said.
To learn more, visit https://armouredone.com/