Solving Real World Issues: Active Shooters on Base

I was part of a Hacking for Defense class, which is both a class and an internship. In this class, I was part of a group of five other students who worked to solve a real-world problem. Our problem was to solve the issue of active shooters on base (specifically the Pearl Harbor military base). This issue was brought up recently because of an active shooter incident on Pearl Harbor on December 4th, 2019 where an active shooter shot and killed two civilian workers before commiting suicide.

We interviewed over 40 interviewees, most of whom were workers on base who were there when the December 4th incident happened and shared their stories with us and did a tour on base to see how the layout looked like. Our interviewees told us that some of the biggest problems in the system that prevented people from being better prepared for active shooter incidents were the communications systems (the on-base speaker, the Giant Voice, for instance) and lack of adequate training due to the training not being engaging enough.

With that in mind, we came up with some possible solutions and presented them in front of our base sponsor, professor, and other professionals which included more engaging training modules (first picture) and information posters. We did not focus too much on communication issues for our end product due to the fact that the base claims they are already working on improving such issues.

Our project was showcased on the UNUM website (you have to have an account to view it).