Tom Powell, WREG News Channel 3, Memphis, TN - 5/18/2009

(Germantown, TN May 18, 2009 7:59 PM) -- Shelby County Schools have a new piece of technology to help keep your kids safe at school.

It's called V-Soft, a program developed by Raptor Technologies that helps keep track of folks who pass through school doors. Dogwood Elementary Principal Andrea Simpson demonstrated the system for WREG News Channel 3. "We know it's searching. We feel really good about that," Simpson says.

If you visit Dogwood, first your image is captured on a video camera outside the school. Once you're buzzed in, you're asked to hand over your driver's license. The license is scanned, then your information is cross-checked with a sex offender database. If there's a match, a red flag appears, and the receptionist is asked to verify that it's a match. If there's a match, a text alert is sent to the principal and security.

"I just feel it makes our children a little more safe," says Dogwood Mom Catherine Arich.

"You never know whose living next door to you, whose living around the corner, or who is visiting the school," says parent Dana Guzzo. "It gives you the piece of mind to know your children are safe."

The program is now being implemented at all Shelby County Schools.

FAST FACTS: Raptor Technologies V-Soft program installed at Shelby County Schools System uses ID to identify Sex Offenders Text alerts issued if offender shows up at school tom.powell@wreg.com