RAPTOR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. / TONYA KERR - 8/20/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: A federal judge this week affirmed that schools across the nation are within all federal guidelines when asking parents and visitors to provide identification upon entering a campus or location where students are present. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks granted motion for summary judgment in a federal lawsuit against a Texas school district which centered around the use of the vSoft visitor management and screening system by Raptor Technologies, Inc.

Sparks’ 26-page ruling states that “schools have a compelling interest in the safety of their students. Therefore, requiring production of a driver’s license in order to verify the identity and sex offender status of a visitor is a reasonable action.” The court also found no violation of due process, privacy, freedoms of speech, assembly, or association under the United States Constitution. Allan Measom, CEO of Raptor Technologies, applauds the ruling and says, “Schools nationwide can take a deep breath with this assurance that the laws of this nation protect our fundamental rights to keep our children safe while they’re in school. This ruling should raise the national conscience on this issue, and every parent should ask how their child’s school is managing campus visitors.”

Currently used by more than 6,000 campuses in 40 states, Raptor's vSoft system positively identified over 1,700 registered sex offenders entering schools during the 2008-2009 school year by instantly screening visitors and volunteers against sex offender databases nationally. The system is also instrumental in restricting access to visitors or parents who have custody disputes, restraining orders and/or trespassing orders. Raptor has been endorsed by the United States Department of Justice.

The undisputed evidence proved the Raptor system uses encryption technology, the transmission is secure site to site exchange, access to the system is protected by password, and person’s authorized to access the information are limited. The court ruled that when Rapor performs sex offender status searches for the school district, it is in fact acting as the district’s agent and providing adequate safeguards for protecting the information they require from school campus visitors.

Judge Sparks ruled that “in the educational world following the Columbine school shooting and the increased visibility of and sensitivity to sex offenders, schools have not only an interest, but a duty to take appropriate steps to protect our children while they are at school.” The ruling also stated that providing visitors (whose sex offender status was unknown) access to the secure areas of the school would put students’ security at stake.

For more information about Raptor Technologies, visit www.raptorware.com.

**Columbine High School now utilizes Raptor’s vSoft system.

*** In 2007, the Texas State Legislature permitted all Texas school districts to require a visitor to show photo identification and to verify whether or not a visitor is a registered sex offender prior to being permitted to enter a campus.

****Majority of schools nationwide still use a clipboard and honor system- allowing predators access to our children.

*****Raptor’s vSoft performs an optical scan of the front side of a visitor’s driver’s license or government-issued I.D., and only the visitor’s first name, last name, and date of birth are used to query 50 state registered sex offender databases. If there is a positive match, the photo captured by the Raptor system is compared to the photo on the visitor’s driver’s license. The Raptor system does not perform criminal background checks. All data is owned by the individual schools/districts/facilities and is not sold or used by Raptor for any other purposes. All policies and additional data management are left to the discretion of each individual campus.