Customer Video Review of Vigilant PPS22BL Alarm

A customer made a good and unsolicited video review of our PPS22BL. It was interesting to see his two outdoor tests... and the PPS22BL held up well at long distances! Check out his review here :

A Corrections Officers Prayer

This was borrowed from the Department of Oregon AFSCME web site, but we repost it here in honor of the men and women from a state whose Department of Corrections just placed an order with us for Vigilant PPS8G alarms for the protection of their correctional officers.

A Corrections Officers Prayer

Lord, I ask for courage
Courage to face
And conquer my own fears.
Courage to take me
Where others will not go.

I ask for strength
Strength of body
To protect others...
Strength of spirit
To lead others.

I ask for dedication
Dedication to my job.
To do it well.
Dedication to my community...
To keep it safe.

Give me Lord, concern
For all those who trust me...
And compassion for those
Who need me.

And please, Lord
Throughout it all.
Be at my side.

Supporting Non-Profit Health Care Facilities - Ohio This Time!

I had the opportunity today to personally pack and ship a large order of Vigilant PPS-8G alarms to a large not-for-profit health care provider in Ohio today.  Multiple hospitals are serviced within their system, and we are thankful for the opportunity to help equip their team with devices that will better ensure their staff and their client's protection and summon attention in an emergency situation.  It is amazing to think about the wide reach of Vigilant alarms both domestically and internationally,  and the people we will never meet that will be serviced by our products.  Our thoughts and prayers go with every alarm that we ship.  

Applying the OODA Loop - Learning From the Survivors of the Aurora, CO Massacre

On Friday, July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside of a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. A gunman, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.

Initially, few in the audience considered the masked figure a threat. He appeared to be wearing a costume, like other audience members who had dressed up for the screening. Some believed that the gunman was playing a prank, while others thought that he was part of a special effects installation set up for the film's premiere as a publicity stunt by the studio or theater management.  It was also said that the gunman threw two canisters emitting a gas or smoke, partially obscuring the audience members' vision, making their throats and skin itch, and causing eye irritation.  He then fired a 12-gauge Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun, first at the ceiling and then at the audience.

What can we learn from the survivors of the Aurora, Colorado massacre?

 

Decide (The third phase of the OODA Loop).

On November 13th, 2012 and November 19, 2012, I blogged about the first step in the OODA loop, which is to observe.  On March 9, 2013 the blog covered the second step of the loop, which is to orient.  At some point, I will reorganize the links so this information is all together.

We're talking about an action strategy developed by USAF Colonel John Boyd.
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act

So by now, you have made an observation, and oriented your mind to circumstances that were different than what was expected.  The third step of the OODA Loop is to decide.  You are going to consider action (or inaction) options, and select a course of action.  Human reaction time is defined as the time elapsing between the onset of a stimulus and the onset of a response to that stimulus.  You have to make a decision.  If you go through the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) faster than your opponent, you have the strategic advantage and are positioned to win any given incursion. 

It's worth noting that your decision doesn't have to be perfect.  It simply has to be more swift and decisive than the opponent.  You can respond to changing situations as you go.  By nature of the discussion, the process is a LOOP.  You have the ability to correct action on the second pass through the LOOP.  Once you have acted you are committed to the action until you observe a new threat or situation.  Your action could be successful, or afterwards it might require more action at which time you must reenter the loop at the beginning.   What's critical is that you select a path and move rapidly to the action phase.

The speed at which you get through the loop can give you a tactical edge.  The objective is to get through the loop faster than your adversary.  In an ideal situation you can deal with a threat before your opponent has even realized he is in a confrontational situation and entered his own OODA loop.  If not, and the enemy has time to react, then you have to “get inside” his loop.  This means that you need to be performing the loop faster than he can.

 So... we decide.  We intentionally pick a course of action based on the observation and orientation.  We take a split second inventory of our preparedness, the tools or options available to us, and we decide.  We force ourselves to move quickly to the final step of the loop --- action.

 



   

Living out our mission statement.

Over the past week, our Vice President of Operations was working on our company mission statement.  What she has thus far is something along the lines of:

"We believe that everyone has the right to be safe, no matter what the circumstances are. We produce products to assist people to be secure in their ability to protect themselves. Safety doesn’t happen by accident."

So, when the opportunity presents itself to come alongside a non-profit organization in California whose emphasis is providing mental health services to low income children and their families, we get to live out our mission statement in practice rather than in theory. 

In addition to the alarms that will be used by staff (and maybe volunteers?), we will be sending some additional products along for the kids our new client interfaces with.  We are thankful for this chance to make a difference!