Byrna Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: BYRN) is extremely pleased to announce that Andy Pollack has joined the Company as Chief Public Safety Officer.
Andy has been a staunch school safety activist ever since his daughter, Meadow Pollack, was killed in the Marjorie Stoneham Douglas High School shooting on Valentine’s Day four years ago. After his daughter was murdered, Andy left no stone unturned trying to find out exactly what led to the death of his daughter. He released his findings in a book, “Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies that created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students.” In addition, Andy has been credited with helping to pass the “Marjorie Stoneham Douglas High School Public Safety Act” (Florida Senate Bill 7026) and he has worked tirelessly with state and federal lawmakers to get more federal funding to increase school security in every school across the nation. He created a charitable organization, Meadow’s Movement, to continue these efforts and to fight for increased school safety.
Andy has been featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts and has spoken extensively on the topic of school security claiming that schools do not have the same level of security as airports, stadiums, and embassies. He has said repeatedly that the 9/11 attacks happened once, and measures were taken to prevent it from happening again. “There have been hundreds of school shootings, and nothing has been done. There should have been only ONE school shooting before we fixed the problem.”
Andy is going to be the public face of Byrna’s School Safety Program, promoting the Byrna’s School Safety Awareness Program and the Byrna Ballistipac bullet proof backpack for School Resource Officers (SROs). SROs are the true first responders in a school shooting as 93% of school shootings are over before law enforcement even arrives.
The Byrna Ballistipac, which converts into full body armor in a matter of seconds and comes with a molly to hold a Byrna or other firearm and an anti-bleed kit will allow SROs to immediately engage a school shooter and provide medical care to injured students and teachers. This can shave minutes off the traditional response time in an active school shooter situation where every second counts.
Andy will also be promoting Byrna’s new backpack insert – the Byrna Shield – which is designed to fit into a student’s backpack. At less than 1.0 lb., this flexible protective plate can stop six rounds from a .44 Magnum. These “Shields,” developed with patented technology specifically for Byrna, will allow parents the ability to give their children an invisible level of protection that could save their lives.
Andy will be working closely with Byrna’s Head of Law Enforcement Training, Josh Schirard, to develop Byrna’s School Safety Program including a dedicated school safety website which will provide parents and school administrators with the “10 Things Schools Can do to Protect Their Students from an Active Shooter” along with training videos and other materials.
Josh, a former Captain in the Galveston PD, and ALERRT (Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training) Safety Instructor, has a decade of experience training thousands of law enforcement officers and civilians on how to respond to a school shooting. Josh also has direct personal experience dealing with school shootings as the tactical operations commander for the entire response to the Santa Fe School Shooting in 2018, commanding over 1,000 LEOs and first responders from 300 different agencies / departments.
Byrna expects to donate 10% of the proceeds from the sales of the Byrna Ballistipac and Byrna Shield to Meadow’s Movement, where these funds will be used to provide Byrna Ballistipacs and Byrna Shields to underprivileged communities where school budgets may be constrained and where parents may not be able to afford a Shield for their children.
We believe that Andy is uniquely positioned to drive awareness of the need to better protect our nation’s schools by providing School Safety Officers and SROs with the necessary tools to confront an active shooter and to inform parents about the availability of a simple, lightweight flexible shield that could save their children’s lives.
Everyone at Byrna is tremendously excited to work with Andy to make our schools a safer place for our children.
About Byrna Technologies Inc.
Byrna is a technology company, specializing in the development, manufacture, and sale of innovative non-lethal personal security solutions. For more information on the Company, please visit the corporate website here https://byrna.com/ or the Company’s investor relations site here https://ir.byrna.com/. The Company is the manufacturer of the Byrna® HD personal security device, a state-of-the-art handheld CO2 powered launcher designed to provide a non-lethal alternative to a firearm for the consumer, private security, and law enforcement markets. To purchase Byrna products, visit the Company’s e-commerce store www.byrna.com.
