Crotega

Non Lethal Shooter Suppression System

Crotega Press Release ASTORS Award 2023

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Crotega Press Release ASTORS Award 2023

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Crotega Press Release ASTORS Award 2023

Crotega Press Release ASTORS Award Nov 2023

AZ Courts Approves REPULS

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Arizona Courts Approve REPULS

Arizona Administrative Order 2023

Private Security Tools: The Ones You Use Make a Difference

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Liability in Private Security Should be Considered When Choosing Your Tools

Private Security ToolsPrivate security firms have a challenging mandate. They are tasked by the building or business owner with the safety of building occupants and property. But their ability to respond to potentially dangerous situations is limited in several ways, including limitations established by the customer. And the tools they might use all present various drawbacks.

In a perfect world, private security would be an “eyes and ears only” solution. They would secure a facility well enough to observe and report potential threats and leave any active engagement of the threats to law enforcement.

The Distinct Line Between Former and Current Police Officers in Private Security Tools

While many guards in private security are former police, they are not currently police. They do not have the resources, nor the legal standing, of active-duty police. Therefore, they must be careful that anytime they are required to use force on the job that their response is reasonable, within the law, and strictly following their company’s procedures.

A Guard’s Tool Belt

Private security firms train their guards that the tools on their duty belts are their last resort. Of course, there are those outlying scenarios when disengagement is not an option, and devices may be deployed, especially defensively.

Yet the security firm opens itself to liability issues when any of these tools are used.

Liabilities with Private Security Tools

One of the most common results of these confrontations is allegations of assault and battery. Security guards are generally required to use the minimum force necessary to handle a potentially violent situation. But state and local laws vary widely in their interpretation of what constitutes reasonable versus excessive force.

Using hard weapons like a baton makes this potential liability worse. The defendants could claim that even carrying a baton is evidence of premeditation for conflict (if the baton is deployed quickly enough).

Even if there’s no threat of legal liability, it’s terrible optics to use a baton on an unarmed civilian. Every security firm’s worst nightmare is to have a video circulating on social media of their personnel beating someone with a stick.

Previously Available Private Security Tools Present Costly Challenges

Consider the other tools that a security guard might have at their disposal. Other advanced threat-control tools are usually expensive or require expensive training and remain largely ineffective. And we are well familiar with the shortcomings of pepper spray – we’ve written extensively on the drawbacks of OC or CS gas.

Ultimately, the choice of security devices will affect a firm’s profits and losses. This is because the tools on a guard’s duty belt can affect how much the business must pay for liability insurance.

While policies and procedures are different, each insurance provider, when quoting premiums, will consider what a security guard is likely to do or not on the job. It’s generally expected that firms whose guards carry and are likely to deploy more extreme threat-control tools will pay a higher premium than those who don’t.

The question for security firms is simple: which tools do you feel comfortable with your guards carrying, knowing that they might need to be deployed, that present a solution to the potential problem while not inviting further liability issues?

A Better Private Security Tool

Private Security firms report the higher liability associated with pepper spray as one of the main reasons they are switching to REPULS. REPULS offers security guards a proportionate response to a threat that has backed the guards into a defensive situation. This solution is easy to use, effective in stopping a threat, easy to mitigate, and less expensive than other security solutions.

It can be used in a hospital or other medical facility because it is direct target specific and not an aerosol. The chemical irritant will not be carried throughout a ventilation system. It will not contaminate the user or the deployed space.

“Crotega changed the game, in my opinion,” says Austin Seman of Fairline Security Services. “I tell everyone about them when I can.”

Crotega Security Solutions can provide you with information to help with your risk analysis.  Contact them today to set up a product demonstration or training.

REPULS Is Not Pepper Spray. Always Dilute with Water

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Proper usage and mitigation of REPULS are essential to avoid adverse reactions—and it’s different from pepper spray.

REPULS Is Not Pepper SprayREPULS is a revolutionary chemical irritant that offers clear advantages over traditional OC or pepper spray. But as REPULS gains greater acceptance in the field, it is critical to remember that it is a different chemical than pepper spray, so it must be treated differently as well.

Failure to understand the distinction between REPULS and pepper spray can expose people to potential harm. That’s why it’s important to know about proper mitigation before you use or train others in the use of REPULS.

Of course, exposure to any chemical irritant spray has some small amount of risk. It seems to be generally accepted that people exposed to traditional pepper spray will be in for a long, painful mitigation process, one that may have lasting effects.

The advantage of REPULS is that the irritation can be easily removed from the eyes and skin in just a few minutes.

Length of Exposure

When law enforcement is trained in pepper spray, they are trained in specific protocols. These include how long it is acceptable to expose someone to the chemical and the best way to mitigate the effects.

Crotega’s stance, consistent with use-of-force policies in police departments across the country, is that subjects should only be exposed to REPULS until they are compliant and in custody. The decontamination process should begin immediately after that and requires only flushing the eyes, face, and any exposed skin with water. And water only.

Dilution is the Solution

REPULS is a water-based, food-grade product. The active ingredient is ammonium propionate, but the solution is mostly water — 77%, to be exact. To lessen the irritation, REPULS needs to be diluted. Do not use baby shampoo or milk; instead, flush with water as quickly as possible.

If you do not promptly decontaminate the active ingredient in REPULS, the subject risks mild adverse reactions. These reactions include chemically induced conjunctivitis, like what you might get by swimming in a heavily chlorinated pool with your eyes open, or slight corneal abrasions.

Both reactions can likely be treated with medicated eye drops. But anyone who experiences these reactions should consult a doctor immediately and follow their specific treatment. Both reactions can be avoided in the first place by following proper use and mitigation protocols.

Crotega Safety Solutions Offers an Answer to Reduce School Shootings

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New technologies can fill the deadly gap of time from when shootings begin to when law enforcement arrives on scene.

Repuls Chemical Irritant

MINNEAPOLIS – Crotega Security Solutions brings SentriZone™ to educational facilities as the first-ever interior assailant suppression system that stops school shooters without risking direct confrontation.

SentriZone is a patented technology concealed within the ceilings of a building, allowing security officers to maintain control of entrances, hallways, and other vulnerable areas of a school. Upon recognition of a threat, security personnel use a system touchscreen to activate SentriZone, showering the assailant with a nontoxic chemical irritant called REPULS®.

Exposure to REPULS causes involuntary closure of the eyes, significant irritation to the nose and throat and stinging to the skin, virtually immobilizing the threat until in-house responders intervene or law enforcement arrives. This system offers a rapid-defense, nonviolent security solution for schools that can help save lives.

“When I was in elementary school, I experienced the trauma of a school shooter in my hometown,” says Crotega founder Jody Allen Crowe. “Since then, I’ve watched countless communities across the nation suffer the same tragedy. As a former educator, the incident at Sandy Hook gave me serious pause. I thought about how vulnerable public spaces are to these threats. And like many of us, I wondered what could be done about it. This was the catalyst for the foundation of Crotega.”

Crotega’s mission is to be your first point of contact for less-than-lethal safety solutions for schools. Crotega’s school security solutions enhance the safety of security officers with a hands-off approach, minimizing physical altercations and reducing the risk to students and staff.

Crotega’s patented chemical irritant spray, REPULS, is a biodegradable solution that is easy to clean up, and is not an OC or tear gas, making it safe to use inside school buildings. REPULS is also offered in handheld canisters for ease of use in confined spaces such as school buses.

New Website Launched for Crotega Security Solutions

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Crotega Security Solutions Announces the Launch of Their New Website, crotega.com

Repuls Chemical Irritant

Crotega display of new website

Crotega’s mission is to be your first point of contact for less-than-lethal safety solutions. Their new website contains a variety of resources for building and public safety professionals, including product demonstration videos, case studies, testimonials, and detailed information on Crotega’s innovative suite of security solutions.

“Crotega was founded after studying the glaring deficiencies in school security against active assailants,” says founder Jody Allen Crowe. “We hope this new website will help building owners and security personnel of all kinds, whether in law enforcement, education, government, retail, casinos, hospitals and more, to consider how they can be better prepared to confront incidences of violence.”

Website visitors can learn how Crotega’s products can augment and improve their current security posture. They can also explore videos of the security products in use, product testing and evaluations, white papers detailing their chemical makeup and compliance with building codes, and practical advice about how Crotega’s proactive solutions deliver peace of mind for building owners and occupants with a hands-off approach.

Crotega’s patented chemical irritant spray, REPULS®, is superior to traditional pepper spray for its easy clean-up and mitigation, and no blowback to the user. It is the common thread in all of Crotega’s security products: SentriZone™, a first-of-its-kind building security system designed to suppress violent actors by deploying REPULS from the ceilings in common walkways, and SentriLaunch™, a drone that deploys REPULS within a building to help fill the deadly gap of time from when an incident begins to when law enforcement arrives