Syracuse-based defense company Armoured One releases PSA on school safety, focusing on violent attack education and mental health awareness
Industry: Education
As schools begin to reconvene after a period of prolonged quarantine, students will need to reacclimate to time spent with their teachers and peers. As experts in physical safety, Armoured One is concerned that there is an increased risk of violent attacks in schools. During quarantine, prospective attackers have had more time to prepare for and plan an attack. Mixed with social and physical alienation, depression and anxiety, and national news coverage of other major stories, Armoured One feels an attack is more likely as the attacker seeks to gain notoriety.
Syracuse, New York (PRUnderground) October 28th, 2020
As schools begin to reconvene after a period of prolonged quarantine, students will need to reacclimate to time spent with their teachers and peers. As experts in physical safety, Armoured One is concerned that there is an increased risk of violent attacks in schools. During quarantine, prospective attackers have had more time to prepare for and plan an attack. Mixed with social and physical alienation, depression and anxiety, and national news coverage of other major stories, Armoured One feels an attack is more likely as the attacker seeks to gain notoriety.
The PSA, entitled “One Step Ahead“ raises awareness of the fragility of mental health, particularly during COVID-19, and that an attacker can be the most unsuspecting individual. Due to the suspension of daily life as we know it, potential attackers, who are statistically prone to extensive planning and preparation, may not only be growing more mentally unstable, but have had more time to research past attacks and increased the desire to mimic previous school attackers.
Former homicide detective and SWAT team operator, Tom Czyz, founded Armoured One – a tactical defense firm and training service – in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy on December 14, 2012. His mission is to safeguard students and school faculty and staff in the United States against violent attacks. Now, Armoured One aims to raise awareness for the fatal threats schools in the U.S. are facing (beyond the comeback of COVID-19) and how to defend the nation’s schools and children against it.
About Armoured One: Armoured One was founded in December 2012, by Tom Czyz, a former homicide detective, SWAT team operator, and father who was driven to take action after the Sandy Hook Elementary attack. Since then, Tom Czyz and Co-Founder, Tino Amodei, have put together a team of experts, who are devoted to protecting people from violence. The value Armoured One brings takes many forms: manufacturing and installing attack resistant and proof glass and window film; providing training created by current and former defense personnel and experts (such as SWAT Team Operators, Homeland Security Violent Attack Experts, a former Navy SEAL Master Chief, a Delta Force Team Leader, former FBI Agents, and former Secret Service agents, psychologists, and teachers), and conducting physical security risk assessments in schools, colleges, and universities across the country. Armoured One also studies the history of past attacks to develop better products and continuously improve its training.
One Training’s specialized training programs have been provided to hundreds of schools that are unable to afford it in the form of a 501(c)(3) donation. They are also sponsors of the National Safety Security Protection Association (NSSPA), which hold summits at the Armoured One Headquarters in a long-term effort to make violent attack codes as necessary as fire codes in schools. Tom Czyz is opposed to staging realistic or frightening training sessions or drills and we do not include students in the program. Studies have shown that nearly 83% of attackers on schools are current or former students. “When we do fire drills, have you ever seen a school light a room on fire and scare the crap out of people to make them react better?” he said. “It doesn’t happen.”
About Armoured One
Armoured One is dedicated to one mission, “Our Mission is to provide real-world solutions to save lives from violent attacks.” We are founded by a SWAT Operator who is partnered with Subject Matter Experts from FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security, NYS Homeland Security, Navy Seals, Delta Force Operators, and Detectives who have been studying attacks since 1985. We understand that each attack is unique and because of this, we have developed specialized products and training to meet the separate needs of k-12 schools, higher education, businesses, government, health care, and religious organizations. Our solutions are dictated by each attacker’s actions in current and past attacks. This information is utilized to be proactive against such threats.
