News and Information

School board to install new security system
WWSB ABC 7, Sarasota, FL

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 – This coming Monday, the Manatee County School Board will install a security system designed to identify sex offenders before they can get into a school.

Manatee County's is testing the Raptor Technology System at its McNeal Elementary.

Raptor Technologies first customer was Houston-based Enron, which right after 9/11 was concerned about who was coming and going into the Houston headquarters.

It's an updated system that's going into McNeal Elementary on Monday.

Here is how it works:

1. A person arriving at a school goes to the school office.

2. School personnel scan the person's driver's license information: picture, name and date of birth into the raptor scanner.

3. The information is electronically sent to the Houston-based raptor's database of 42 states' sex offenders.

4. If the person gets the all clear, raptor prints a temporary pass with the person's name, picture and where in the school he's going. If the person turns out to be a sex offender, the school's security officer and principal are automatically alerted.

That's what happened this year when two guys in separate incidents shows-up at Sarasota Middle School.

They were subcontractors arriving to do construction work at the school, and raptor identified them as sex offenders and barred them entry to the school.

Lt. Tim Enos, Sarasota County Sheriff' s Office: "I thought in reference to its security aspect it was phenomenal…based on the terrible tragedies in Florida and Idaho, it's very important for parents to have peace of mind as to knowing who is on their campuses."

The Sarasota County School Board tested the Raptor system at Sarasota Middle School, Fruitville and Ashton Elementary schools.

The board is now deciding whether to install raptor in each of the county's more than 50 schools this October. The cost is 15 hundred dollars per school for the first year, and about 400 dollars each year thereafter.

On Monday, McNeal Elementary will be the first school in Manatee County to try out the system.

Raptor is currently installed in more than 1,000 schools nationwide.