DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, FL — Leon County Schools is adding a new layer of safety technology to Godby High School with the rollout of about 30 security drones in the coming weeks.
The drones are part of the Campus Guardian Angel program. Money to roll out this program here has been provided by Florida Department of Education at no cost to Leon County taxpayers.
Jimmy Williams, Chief of Safety and Security with Leon County Schools, said the drones are designed to intervene during a crisis before law enforcement arrives.
"The purposes of the drone are to respond, distract, and delay the offender until law enforcement can get in contact with that person or persons and manage that crisis," Williams said.
The drones can deploy deterrents including pepper spray. Williams said the program is one of many overlapping safety measures already in place across the district.
"It's not the answer, but it's another layer, and we have many, many layers of redundancy as it relates to school safety and security on each campus," Williams said.
Justin Marston, CEO and Founder of Campus Guardian Angel, said the speed of the drone response is what sets the program apart.
"So I think the greatest challenge for school safety is how long it takes for law enforcement to arrive on mass. It typically takes five or six minutes, and most school shootings are over in two minutes. And so by the time the police get there, it's over," Marston said. "How can you reduce that five or six minutes down to seconds before this person is confronted?"
Marston added that once a threat is engaged, behavior tends to change.
"Once they're confronted, then they stop trying to shoot people. They're engaged with whatever that is. In our case, the drones they're engaged with that," Marston said.
The drones at Godby will be operated by a team that includes 4 pilots.
The program will work alongside existing technology in the district, including ZeroEyes, an AI-powered system that detects weapons on campus. The district previously expanded the number of ZeroEyes cameras after reporting about a 55% drop in weapons seized on campus since 2022.
Chris Heilig, Executive Vice President of School Safety and Technology at ZeroEyes, said the two systems complement each other.
"The AI weapon detection gives you that peace of mind where it's overarching. It gives you that 24-7, 365 days a year detection of weapons on campus. And then using the drones amplifies that," Heilig said.
Leon County Schools plans to roll out the drone program at Godby within the next 5 to 6 weeks. The district will test the system over the summer before students return in the fall.
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