Gwinnett SPLOST would fund new emergency communication system for schools

Gwinnett County plans to build a $5 million emergency communication system that would provide video from inside county and city of Buford schools directly to the 911 emergency dispatch center so that police can respond more quickly and effectively in an emergency like a school shooting.

But the system will only be built if voters approve a $498 million special sales tax renewal next month.

The announcement was made at the Gwinnett Police Department’s emergency dispatch center in Lawrenceville on Wednesday, less than two weeks before the vote.

Gwinnett County Police Chief Charlie Walters said his department began thinking about this type of system in December, after 20 children and six adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Walters said the project would put an undetermined number of cameras in each of Gwinnett County’s 132 schools, plus three schools in Buford. The video feed would be activated by school officials pushing a panic button.

Details about how the system would operate — how many cameras and panic buttons in each school, whether the system would transmit a message to the dispatch center about the nature of the emergency, protocol and the types of emergencies to trigger the system — still have to be worked out. But what was made absolutely clear is that voters have to approve the tax renewal to get it.

“The fact is, if we are going to install this system, that is the only way we can provide funds to do that,” Walters said.

Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash said her staff has been working on the project for several months, and cost estimates were finally tied down in the last couple of weeks. She also said it is appropriate for the county to fund the project because it is an extension of its 911 system.

When asked why the school district isn’t contributing to the project, Chief Walters said: “This is an initiative started by the county police unit. It is separate from the school district, and it is appropriate for that money to be spent by the county rather than the board of education.”

A three-year, $498 million Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax renewal is on ballots in Gwinnett County Nov. 5. About 70 percent of the revenue from the tax would go for transportation projects. Commissioners have said about $70 million of the SPLOST funds would go for public safety facilities and equipment.

Bobby Crowson, an assistant superintendent for Gwinnett County Schools, said the new system would improve the police response time in an emergency.