Abbotsford, BC February 11th, 2014 - Gatekeeper Systems Inc. (the "Company" or "Gatekeeper") (TSX.V: GSI) is pleased to announce it has been awarded a contract (the "Contract Award") from the State of North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction, which approves Gatekeeper stop arm camera systems to qualify for funding reimbursement when purchased by North Carolina School Districts.
As a function of the Contract Award, Gatekeeper's stop arm camera technology was required to comply with technical specifications and pricing objectives. Compliance with technical specifications included the ability for camera systems to generate images which enable driver and license plate identification when the motorist passes the school bus from both the front and rear, as well as inclusion of software that allows for the extraction of passing violations.
In the biennium budget approved by the North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction General Assembly, there is $690,000 per year for 2013 - 2014 and 2014 - 2015 to deploy stop arm cameras throughout the State of North Carolina (the "State"). Each of the 115 School Districts were approved by the State to purchase two stop arm camera systems valued up to $3,000 per system in 2013 - 2014, and two additional stop arm camera systems in 2014 - 2015, all of which will be 100% funded by the State if and when the systems are purchased through Gatekeeper.
Doug Dyment, President and CEO of Gatekeeper stated, "We have been very active in the State of North Carolina presenting our stop arm camera technology over the past 12 months. We couldn't be more pleased that our technology has been approved by the State to qualify for funding. We are one of only four companies approved by the State and will aggressively move towards showcasing not only our stop arm camera technology but also our Ticket Infraction Management software which we believe gives us a unique selling advantage other companies don't have. There are approximately 13,500 school buses in the State of North Carolina. The contract calls for one and two year extensions".
It is illegal in every state in the United States and province in Canada for a motorist to pass a school bus while the school bus is stopped and the stop arm is engaged. A law enforcement officer would be required to witness the infraction in order to issue a ticket. With over 15 million stop arm violations projected in 2014, more and more states are passing laws that allow authorities to issue tickets by using video taken from a stop arm camera system as evidence. Tickets range in various states and provinces from $50 to $1,500.
Gatekeeper's strategy is to partner with School Districts and Counties by offering both its Student Protector high speed license plate reading system and cloud based software application TIM(TM) ("Ticket Infraction Management System").
Dyment added, "Our vision was to offer a total end-to-end solution that not only records and creates an evidence package for law enforcement, but also gives us the capability to manage the entire ticketing process through long term service contracts and/or revenue sharing contracts from tickets issued and collected on. We are excited about where we are at with the technology. Its scalability allows us to look at new markets in construction, school and park safety zones as well as other applications where speeding is putting human life at risk".
About Gatekeeper Systems Inc.
Founded in 1997, Gatekeeper Systems Inc. has provided total mobile video security solutions to over 3,500 customers and has installations in every state and province in North America. Customers include school districts, public transit, law enforcement and military.
For more information visit: www.gatekeeper-systems.com.
Sincerely,
Douglas Dyment
President & CEO
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