Crotega

Non Lethal Shooter Suppression System

REPULS Wins 2020 ASTORS Homeland Security Award

Jason Karau

REPULS Wins 2020 ASTORS Homeland Security Award

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Crotega is proud to have received an ASTORS Platinum Award from American Security Today. REPULS® has been awarded Best Less Lethal Tactical Equipment for 2020.

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Crotega is proud to have received the 2020 ASTORS Platinum Award from American Security Today. REPULS® has been awarded Best Less Lethal Tactical Equipment.

REPULS is becoming quickly regarded among security professionals for solving several obstacles inherent in the deployment of traditional pepper spray. It has the same irritant qualities, but is easy to mitigate, and offers no risk of blow-back or contamination to the arresting officer, their uniform, squad car, or booking facilities.

REPULS accomplishes all this thanks to its innovative water-based solution, which has an interesting genesis. It was invented by Oliver Nichols, a highly respected chemist, who was asked to create a solution that could be sprayed on alfalfa during harvesting that would deter the growth of mold on the bundles. It was years later while harvesting alfalfa on his own farm that Nichols learned of the unintended benefit of it being a world class irritant. Nichols knew Crotega founder Jody Allen Crowe and recalled a conversation in which Crowe was seeking a water-based solution to use as an irritant in his suppression tanks. The rest is history.

Crotega’s solutions have been widely praised by American Security Today for years, and the company is thrilled to accept this honor from such a respected industry group.

Active Shooter Suppression: Our Top Priority is to Stop the Shooting As Soon As Possible

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“Mass casualty events” and “active shooters” are both recent terms that have become a part of our lives. They’re almost a regular, predictable occurrence. These tragedies do not discriminate or play favorites with the venue. They happen in schools, factories, office buildings, concert halls and outdoor music festivals, hospitals, governmental facilities, anywhere and everywhere.

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Active Shooter Suppression: A Growing Challenge

They occur at a greater rate each year and with what always seems like a greater loss of life. These events are happening with such frequency that the news cycle has gone from weeks of coverage down to a few days. We have grown collectively immune to the shock and horror.

Crotega’s Dan Murphy was recently reflecting on his career, in the NYPD and in private security, where he has been tasked with protecting people across the globe against acts of violence. He’s watched and studied numerous cases where shooters have entered buildings and wounded and killed innocent persons before either committing suicide, being captured or being killed by the responding police.

Traditional Security Measures

Murphy and other Crotega team members have been involved in designing, purchasing, and installing countless security technology systems for hundreds of buildings worldwide. The traditional security package consists of CCTV, access control/badging, unarmed security officers and door/window alarms for non-business hours. These measures generally do what they are intended to do: allow normal day-to-day activities and provide a generic layer of protection. These precautions don’t stand up to an armed intruder, and this mistaken belief causes loss of life.

The Reality of the Situation

Armed, determined killers brush through most traditional security measures like a knife through warm butter. “If there is one thing that I have learned for certain,” Murphy says, ”if an individual decides to bring a weapon into a facility to kill, they will inevitably find a way.”

What’s needed most is a focus on mitigating the risk to all once an armed intruder gains entry with an intent to harm others.

Security Innovations for Active Shooter Suppression

Traditional security measures listed above do one of three basic things: alert, detect or record. They all require a human response to remedy the situation. None of them do what is truly needed to equip a facility against a killer: confront and suppress the shooter using non-lethal technology.

The concept of Active Shooter Suppression was founded on the same life-saving principles as fire suppression. Fire and shooters spread quickly, are highly lethal, and waiting for police or fire response means a greater likelihood of casualties. Assailant Suppression involves using several security technologies working in unison to accomplish Priority #1: stop the shooting ASAP.

More Firepower Can Equal More Casualties

And that means shooting by anyone, including the police. More rounds fired means more risk and generally more casualties. Many law enforcement and security officers are focused on ensuring that they respond quickly and work in a coordinated fashion. There is also a focus on providing all employees and students with training to survive an active shooter situation. Yes, those are important, but they don’t address Priority #1.

A New Method

The development of comprehensive, integrated assailant suppression systems is needed to address Priority #1. These active shooter suppression systems join with traditional measures to make swift notifications, confront and suppress the shooter’s actions, and provide real-time, accurate images to ensure a safer, more focused response.

Once Priority #1 becomes a greater focus, we will see active shooter incidents that are over before or immediately after they begin, fewer lives lost, and a greater sense of societal relief from these terrible tragedies.

A New Era for Active Shooter Suppression

History has shown us that current methods are failing. We rely on equipment not intended to stop shooters and on the actions of people during an active shooter scenario. It’s time to prioritize technologies that can be built into facilities to ensure that a safer response is where you want it when you need it.

Unarmed Security Guards: A False Sense of Security?

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The Crotega team has studied security systems for years and has been repeatedly confronted with an institutional flaw. For many security personnel, perceptions of what constitute a secure environment are inaccurate.

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Security guard services, for example, exist for good reason and guards are an expected and important part of the security posture of any facility. They have their assigned responsibilities and, when done properly, can add a measure of protection and give occupants a sense of security.

Perhaps that sense of security is too replete to be accurate.

The Reality of Unarmed Security Guards

Many end-users do not understand the severe limitations that the security guard role presents. Unarmed security guards are not paid, trained, or expected by their employers to stand up to armed aggressors. Yet so many who contract with those services believe they somehow will and should. This can and has been an unrealistic and disastrous expectation.

The Kraft Manufacturing Shooting

A workplace shooting at a Kraft manufacturing plant outside Pittsburgh in 2010 brought this to light. An aggravated employee was placed on suspension and was ushered out of the gated, locked plant by unarmed security. She went to her car, drove around for a few minutes, and returned with a .357 magnum which she pointed through the gate at the guard manning the entrance. The guard opened the gate for her as he was ordered to do, then he watched as she walked calmly into the building where she proceeded to shoot several people, killing two before surrendering to the police.

The Unarmed Security Guard’s Actions

What did the guard do? When faced with a loaded .357, opening that gate was about the only choice he had. It’s what he did next that was the real problem. He walked away and quit the job without bothering to notify anyone of what was happening. No 911 call. No call to the main office. Nothing. The first call to the police was from the shooter herself.

Kraft was of course horrified by these events. They filed suit against the guard services for failing to act. They felt the guard could have and should have stopped the shooter and/or denied her entrance.

Unrealistic Expectations

That was an example of a complete failure to grasp the reality of what your security dollar had purchased. In no way should anyone who is unarmed be expected to stand up to an armed aggressor. When planning for security at the location they believed that the unarmed guards and fencing would be sufficient. This presumption was sadly and drastically unaligned with the reality of these situations. Kraft won a sizable judgment against the guard company, but their unrealistic expectations played a part in the deaths at their plant.

Security Measures Today

In the ever-evolving world of security technology, it has become commonplace for manufacturers to advertise that their product will save lives — especially against active shooters. Building owners can sink money into myriad solutions like gunshot detection systems, locking doors, AI camera technology, access control systems, advanced CCTV systems, alert notification systems, and yes, guard services.

Each of these components is capable of certain things, and each can be used as a part of a smart overall security posture. But it’s important to be realistic about their limitations. Faulty assumptions about what they can achieve can have serious consequences.

Better than Pepper Spray: Police Officers Are Discovering a New Way

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In 1984, Dan Murphy entered the New York City Police Academy and underwent the typical six months of training. A part of that training was the use of the approved firearms and chemical mace.

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Learning the Challenges of Mace

Training to use mace consisted of 5-10 minutes of discussion, followed by all the trainees assembling at an outdoor shooting range. They unholster their mace canisters and point them at arm’s length towards the target stanchions. On the mark, they are instructed to lift the cap and send a 2-3 second burst downrange. At that point, trainees are officially certified to use mace.

Afterward, the trainers brought everyone back into the training room. Murphy recalls receiving the following advice: “Don’t use it in windy conditions, don’t use it around other cops, and never use it indoors”. Essentially, don’t use it unless optimal circumstances exist.

Absolute Precaution Required

The message was received. Almost no one used it, ever. When someone did, they had to deal with the lingering effects of contamination on their eyes, uniforms and squad cars. Instead, Murphy and his fellow NYPD officers relied on old-school tools to handle physical confrontations with suspects: fists, nightsticks, mag lights and portable radios. In short, whatever was in their hands at the time.

Police Officers Armed With Mace

The City of New York felt the need to arm its police force with a chemical irritant to have as an alternative to tools with greater lethality and liability. So, they spent a fortune on mace canisters which went largely unused by tens of thousands of NYPD officers across several decades.

After retiring from the NYPD in early 2004, Murphy entered corporate security. He worked with contracted guard services who never seemed to be equipped with anything to use against an aggressor. The risk of having guards equipped (thus encouraging physical confrontations) is deemed too high for many companies, resulting in unarmed, “eyes and ears only” security guards.

REPULS’ Debut as an Alternative to Pepper Spray

Murphy left the corporate world and, in 2017, had the opportunity to meet the founder of Crotega, Jody Allen Crowe. Crowe described his invention (SentriZone) a revolutionary threat suppression system for buildings. However, when Murphy learned about REPULS™, the water-based chemical solution used in the suppression tanks, and about the properties that made it different, he saw an opportunity to expand its use.

He thought back to his police career and how many incidents resulted in physical confrontations. These events might have easily ended with a better irritant, one safer to the officer and easier to mitigate. REPULS fit the bill. Murphy urged Crowe to create hand-held canisters to deploy the REPULS solution.

The Better Way Than Pepper Spray

Crotega has since introduced the new alternative to pepper spray to the law enforcement market. After receiving samples and conducting independent testing, both private security firms and law enforcement agencies have begun to make the switch.

The REPULS solution gives anyone tasked with protecting others, or themselves, a new tool that is both highly effective and easy to mitigate, with no known lasting injuries. Law enforcement leaders are currently exploring tools to help their departments remain impactful without causing avoidable injuries to civilians. REPULS represents that kind of system that officers can confidently deploy.

The Expectation vs. Reality of Security

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Have you ever bought a product or service convinced of what it would do, only to learn that it failed to deliver on the promise? The reality of security vs the expectation of security can follow the same path.

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Expectations and Reality Don’t Always Align

In November 2019, Elon Musk introduced the new Tesla Cyber Truck, an SUV with modern high-end technology and a unique look. One of the more compelling arguments for this new truck was the safety features. The vehicle was ultra-reinforced with steel and the windows were made of “Tesla Armor Glass”.

At the rollout event, the press watched as Musk had someone hit the side door with a sledgehammer and — voila! — not a scratch. Then, Musk had someone throw a heavy ball at the driver’s side window to showcase the strength of Tesla Armor Glass. The volunteer hurled the ball and shattered the window.

Musk was clearly mortified. He carried on with the event, but the car was doomed. He had made a very public promise about his product that was simply not accurate. However good the truck may have been, it was dead on arrival at the market.

Expectations in the Security Industry

It’s these sorts of disappointments and outright lies that give pause to buyers. Sales pitches that make unbelievable promises usually are just that: unbelievable. What’s more concerning are the sales pitches that are close to the truth but not quite accurate — especially when safety is at stake.

The security industry has been guilty of this in many ways. While not always intentional, those who sell security services and products have routinely promised a level of expectation that will be proven untrue when the rubber meets the road.

This is not to disparage the industry or the many fine, dedicated professionals striving to protect people, but to highlight a logical flaw in the industry — many people don’t have an accurate idea of what actually makes a facility secure.

Setting a Security Plan

Many end-users have become accustomed to a certain type of security posture and feel confident that their program will withstand any challenge (despite countless real-world examples disproving this notion). They say they want unarmed guards, CCTV and access control. Those satisfy their risk management team and become their baseline security profile.

When selling to these decision-makers, salespersons address only these concerns. They want to make the sale, not turn off the client by trying to oversell, and the recurring revenues from this approach are impossible to ignore. So, they tell the client that they have a secure environment and they move on to the next potential sale.

Numerous security industry manufacturers and service providers have embraced this baseline approach. Moreover, they openly advertise that their service or product will keep you safe. In the real world, safety is a far more complicated effort.

The Reality of Security

For example, a school district in Florida recently announced a multi-million-dollar purchase of a mass alert system for their schools. School officials touted the system as the best use of their funding to ensure the safety of their students and staff. Many applauded this decision. However, while such alert systems can be great, and should be present in a truly comprehensive program, they stop nothing by themselves.

Advertising that a detection device can save lives is a stretch of the truth, one that will inevitably be proven a lie should a gunman enter that facility. Detection devices do just that, detect, and perhaps notify. That’s great, but that’s it. They do not save lives. They enable early detection which can help make for a faster response. But it’s the responders, or the tools that confront the shooter and stop the shooting, that save lives.

Aligning Expectations with Reality

We need to challenge the industry as a whole to rethink the flawed approach of overpromising clients. This widespread practice has hurt the reputation of the industry and decayed the trust we need to help people wisely protect themselves against harm. We should advise clients of the benefits as well as the limitations of what we represent to align their expectations with the reality of security. That honesty is ultimately what generates trust with clients and reflects well upon the industry as a whole.

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