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Rekor Launches OnGuard Comprehensive School Safety Program to Enhance Student Safety Nationwide; First Implementation to be in Upstate New York

Tuesday, 06 August 2019 08:30 AM

Rekor Systems, Inc.

OnGuard protective intelligence monitoring has the potential to identify otherwise unknown threats

Early warning and threat identification solutions for social media, school bus safety, school permit parking monitoring and management

COLUMBIA, MD / ACCESSWIRE / August 6, 2019 / Rekor Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:REKR) ("Rekor"), a leading provider of public safety and vehicle recognition systems powered by artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning, announced today the nationwide launch of OnGuard, its comprehensive school safety program to enhance student safety. The first implementation of OnGuard will be at a school district in upstate New York.

OnGuard adds a protective layer of security to any school campus by identifying and assessing threats to school safety beyond school buildings. OnGuard can increase protection for schools without diverting school resources and funding from education. It has been designed to support school administration and staff, with smart automation and highly experienced resource support.

“School districts are being asked to do more and more each year to keep students safe. Metal detectors, armed security guards, and even arming teachers have all been suggested as solutions for school safety. But school employees aren’t professional threat assessors - their core mission is to educate students,” said Robert A. Berman, President and CEO, Rekor Systems. “We launched OnGuard to help school districts enhance security without stretching themselves thin. Every student deserves to feel safe in their school, and Rekor is committed to being an integral part of the solution.”

OnGuard will provide enhanced student safety through:

Protective intelligence and advance warnings around school buses. Our industry leading vehicle recognition software, powered by AI and machine learning, is operating while the school bus is stationary or moving, and can identify potential dangers to children posed by any vehicle of concern that may be stalking the bus. When a vehicle that is on a watch list is flagged by Rekor’s on-board vehicle recognition technology, real time alerts are sent to law enforcement for rapid response to any potential behaviors of concern from sexual offenders. The same technology can look for vehicles associated with Amber Alerts and provide additional “eyes on the road” to assist law enforcement.

School Bus Stop-Arm Enforcement. OnGuard provides an end-to-end solution for reducing school bus passing violations - illegal in all 50 states. Once a violation is captured, our IP360 violation processing suite offers a web-based application that provides a single interface for all citation management functions. The objective of photo enforcement is to help public safety agencies reduce incidences of dangerous and aggressive driving through voluntary compliance. Combining Rekor’s automated traffic safety enforcement solutions with a complete suite of program support services allows municipalities to easily manage all violations.

Social Media Protective Intelligence Monitoring. OnGuard’s social media monitoring solution, FIRSTSight™, is the result of a partnership between Rekor and ZeroFox, a leader in digital risk protection. FIRSTSight uses machine learning combined with the expertise of former U.S. Secret Service special agents to proactively identify and analyze concerning posts on open-source social media platforms and provide guidance on recommended actions based upon the nature of the post and related content. The FIRSTSight approach reflects the threat assessment model defined by the Secret Service in its Enhancing School Safety Using A Threat Assessment Model. FIRSTSight combines AI with human understanding and intelligence, by drawing on the expertise of highly skilled intelligence analysts to support school safety and student well-being. Protective intelligence monitoring has the potential to identify otherwise unknown threats.

60% of Americans believe that monitoring the content of students’ social media accounts will make schools safer.

“The Town of Fallsburg is eager to work with Rekor and OnGuard to enhance both school and public safety throughout our town. Each day we are bombarded with new acts of senseless violence and irresponsible driving accidents. With each story, we scratch our heads and think of how they can be prevented. These programs are a good first step and we look forward to their implementation. It’s time to rethink our current procedures and models and think out-of-the-box to stop violent acts and needless accidents from harming our family, friends and neighbors,” said Steven Vegliante, Supervisor of the Town of Fallsburg in Upstate New York.

Access Monitoring and Parking Management. OnGuard expands a school’s visitor management monitoring through the installation of automatic license plate reader (“ALPR”) cameras at school vehicle entrances and exits. The cameras are integrated into Rekor’s IP360 system and can be easily customized per school. The OnGuard system also provides access monitoring for school parking lots and online management for parking permits, easily tailored to approve or blacklist specific cars to be admitted to school grounds.

Controlling access to school buildings during school hours is the number one safety and security measure used by public and private schools, with over 88% of schools having controlled access to their building during school hours.

Affordability. For many schools, resources are limited and necessary investments in security may reduce funding to support education and learning. In a recent survey, more than half of K-12 principals said that adequate funding was their top concern. Without a solution that efficiently combines social media monitoring technology along with the human expertise to accurately evaluate potential threats, the resources necessary to identify, evaluate and respond to behaviors of concern are enormous. To address this and ensure school safety is affordable for all, OnGuard’s pricing can be a cost neutral model, drawing funding from the enforcement of school bus stop-arm violations.

To learn more about OnGuard and how to implement it at your school, please visit our website.

Read our Comprehensive OnGuard white paper: OnGuardTM Complete School Safety Solution

About Rekor Systems, Inc.

Rekor Systems, Inc. is a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq (REKR) with headquarters in Columbia, Maryland. Our smarter, faster, cost-competitive solutions are disrupting major industries in over 60 countries across the globe, including security and surveillance, public safety, electronic toll collection, brand loyalty, parking operations, banking and insurance, logistics, and traffic management. We use the power of artificial intelligence to analyze video streams and transform them into actionable information for our clients. Our machine learning enabled software can turn most IP cameras into highly accurate and affordable vehicle recognition devices. Rekor provides advanced vehicle recognition systems, powered by its innovative OpenALPR software, which dramatically improves the accuracy of license plate reads and can also identify the make, model and color of vehicles. Rekor's solutions include mobile and fixed license plate readers, "Move Over" law enforcement, school bus stop-arm enforcement, and red light and speed enforcement, parking enforcement and citation management. Rekor’s solutions help to protect lives, increase brand loyalty, and manage complex supply chain logistics. Our systems can dramatically reduce the cost of collecting tolls on major highways or manage congestion in the bumper-to-bumper traffic of large cities, without the need to install expensive new infrastructure. We make what was once considered impossible, possible. To learn more please visit our website: https://rekorsystems.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements concerning Rekor Systems, Inc. and its future expectations, plans and prospects that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the impact of Rekor's core suite of AI-powered technology and the size of the market for global ALPR systems. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, any statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," by the negative of these terms or by other similar expressions. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual circumstances, events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, particularly as a result of various risks and other factors identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made and are based on management's assumptions and estimates as of such date. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of the receipt of new information, the occurrence of future events, or otherwise.

Media Contact:

Matthew Bretzius
FischTank Marketing and PR
[email protected]

Investor Contact:

Charles Degliomini
Rekor Systems, Inc.
[email protected]

SOURCE: Rekor Systems, Inc.

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Company Update
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