Tag : CERA

By Nikki Cabus

Broward-based CERA reacts to mass shooting mayhem this month

“It has sadly been a very deadly month from coast to coast due to gun violence, ” says Edward McGovern, Founder & CEO at CERA. “Nineteen elementary school students and two teachers were killed by an alleged lone gunman days ago in Uvalde, Texas. A doctor was killed and five other churchgoers were injured in a Laguna Woods, CA shooting. Ten innocent lives were taken at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, NY in what is believed to be a racially-motivated crime.

It has been nearly 10 years since Sandy Hook, slightly over 4 years since Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and 23 whole years since Columbine. How and why is this still happening?”

It is a more difficult task to stop the bad guys from having intent to kill and pulling the trigger. What we CAN control is effective response of critical incidents.

It is quite disheartening to learn that a Tops grocery store employee is claiming a 9-1-1 operator hung up on her when she called to report the shooter, according to the New York Times. She alleges that she was whispering so that the shooter would hopefully not hear her on the phone. This is just one example of the weaknesses in our current communications systems that we are solving.

Critical Event Response Applications, or CERA, is a public safety app that “creates a direct line of communication between law enforcement, emergency medical providers, and individuals on the ground.” CERA greatly assists in containing the scene, neutralizing the threat, and treating and evacuating the injured and in danger. Simply put, it eliminates the chaos and confusion during a critical event to be able to save more lives in a time when time is of the essence.

CERA enables people to report threatening situations and injuries directly to law enforcement officers who have the CERA app with a tap of a button, instantly giving law enforcement the exact location of the threat and getting the information directly into the hands of police and fire as efficiently as possible.

As communities and public safety officials search for solutions to this epidemic of violence, we need to start prioritizing how we are going to address it. We cannot solve our response difficulties using the same antiquated technology that are general multi-purpose tools. In other words, the tools we need to address active killer events are not the same tools used to report a theft, the dynamics are completely different. We need to commit resources to our children’s safety with school attacks much like we committed to their safety when it comes to a fire.

The last school fire in the US that killed 10 or more children was 1958 in Chicago. Why? Because we addressed the specific issue using technology, resources and laws. From fire-codes to inspections to fire drills, we effectively took on a unique problem, committed to make changes and succeeded. It is also possible to change many of the outcomes in targeted violence cases.

Our hearts are saddened to see all of these senseless mass murders. We are praying for all of those affected by these tragedies. Parents are now fearful of sending their kids to school each morning. Shoppers and grocery store workers are worried if a trip to the supermarket or a day at work will be a death sentence. We can do better, but it only works if we join forces to do so.

Please click on the image below to see Edward’s response to the Uvalde massacre on CBS Miami.

By Nikki Cabus

Davie-based public safety startup, CERA, places 2nd at eMerge, but could be the most impactful pitch yet

300 seconds. That’s that amount of time is takes for an active shooter to cause mass casualty at your child’s school, in a mall, or at an event venue. Due to extremely outdated technology, first responders aren’t able to respond fast enough or communicate through the chaos during an incident.

100 startups were chosen out of 1000 applicants to pitch at eMerge Americas’ Startup Showcase this year. Only five were chosen as finalists to pitch in front of judges which included Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary and Broward-based CERA was one of them. Although the startup took home 2nd place, we think they have the most impactful eMerge pitch to date.

Edward McGovern, former Major of the Hallandale Beach Police Department and first responder to some of the most tragic events such as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 and the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting in 2017, has developed a technology that will save more lives. Now retired from the police department, Ed is the startup Founder & CEO of CERA.

Critical Event Response Applications, or CERA, is a public safety app that “creates a direct line of communication between law enforcement, emergency medical providers, and individuals on the ground.” CERA greatly assists in containing the scene, neutralizing the threat, and treating and evacuating the injured and in danger. Simply put, it eliminates the chaos and confusion during a critical event to be able to save more lives in a time when time is of the essence.

“CERA’s at the eMerge Americas Startup Showcase was amazing,” said McGovern. “Even though we didn’t take the top prize, watching us start with over 1000 applicants and make it to the final 5 was such an important validation of our company and our mission. We were so proud to be be on that stage, not just representing CERA, but also the Alan B Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation, whose help has been invaluable to us,” he continued. “As I walked on stage, I saw guest judges like Kevin “Mr Wonderful” O’Leary, Paul Judge, and Ryan Whittemore sitting under the CERA brand, along with Levan Center and South Florida Tech Hub logos, and thinking how amazing our region is for innovation. I’m more determined than ever.”

Watch McGovern’s pitch for CERA here.

Congratulations to all the companies who pitched that day including the top five finalists: Genially, from Spain, which helps users build interactive digital content, TicketRev, from Boca Raton, which is a reverse event ticket selling platform, CERA, from Davie, offering a group of public safety applications, Togal.AI, from Miami, which helps improve estimating in the construction industry, and MOVIA Robotics, from the UK, which offers robotics that help children on the autism spectrum.

For more information on CERA, visit https://www.ceraapp.com/