Every parent wants peace of mind knowing their children are safe when they walk through the front doors of their school.
That's why Roland Trout, an entrepreneur and father of three, helped create tech startup BarricAid Technology Group aimed at accomplishing that very task.
Trout, of Lexington; Neal Davis, of Charlotte; and Michael Pittman, of Richmond, Virginia, co-founded the Lexington-based company in 2018 in hopes of developing a more effective solution to protect students and teachers during an active shooter situation.
Trout said they began plotting out the concept for BarricAid after he saw a video that explained how teachers have to barricade their classroom doors in the event of a shooter at the school.
"In this video, there were a bunch of manual door barricades the teachers had to put in place," he said. "The problem is, that takes every teacher responding accordingly, and once it's in place, you have to either tear the door down or have someone from the inside unlock the barricade."
Trout said he knew they could come up with a better way to secure a door in these high-stress, dangerous situations. BarricAid's remote technology uses a direct cellular connection to secure rooms within a school, college campus, church or any place an active-shooter situation could occur.
"This is a way to deploy, not just one device on one door, but (devices) on every door simultaneously," he said. "We can remotely lock down all classrooms across an entire campus or school faster than a text alert can go out."
The device is bolted to the door and has its own cellular antenna that links the device to the cloud. Trout said this function allows users to use their cellphone or mobile device to ensure proper functionality, and in the event of an emergency, a user can engage the lockdown system. Additionally, each room has its own panic button that, when pressed, sends an alert to the cloud telling other connected devices to lock down, too.
"No matter what side of the gun debate you're on, there is still a problem of safety in our schools," he said. "The main motivation is that we wanted to provide a way for students and teachers to safely shelter in place if all other defenses fail."
Since its founding, BarricAid has raised $250,000 in capital, including an investment from former Lowe's Chief Financial Officer Marshall Croom. It is now working on a Series B funding round. Trout said Croom has played a critical role in BarricAid's early-stage growth strategy and recently joined the company's board of directors.
Though the tech is not yet implemented in any schools, Trout said they expect to begin launching in the second quarter of 2021 and want to focus on private schools and universities in the Southeast to start.
"Realistically, Covid has affected public school budgets, so of course there are some districts that would be able to cover the cost, and some unable," he said. "We eventually want to provide this solution for all schools, churches, daycares and other public places where an active shooter situation could happen."
