ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Attleboro's Mayor Paul Heroux has decided to put acoustic systems that can detect and locate gunshots in all school buildings in the city, with funding from a new pot shop.
Heroux said he hopes it's something that will never be used. Attleboro's new high school is being equipped with the new gunshot detection system and over the summer, the city's 8 other schools will follow suit.
Heroux said the new systems could help save lives in the case of an active shooter situation.
"Usually in the first 10 minutes there's a lot of confusion, people aren't even really sure what's going on and police aren't even notified sometimes until 5, 10 or 15 minutes after the shootings have started," said Heroux.
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He added this would minimize response time and alert the police immediately. Heroux said by reducing that response time, more lives can be saved.
The host fees the city has received from its first approved pot shop, Nova Farms, is funding the gunshot detection systems.
"We received our first installment of $585,000 and we're going to put $450,000 of that towards the gun shot detection systems for all 9 schools," said Heroux.
WBZ NewsRadio's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) Reports:
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