INTRODUCTION

In the wake of recent tragedies such as the Columbine High School shootings, Jonsboro Arkansas shootings, and others across the United States and Canada, safety in schools is foremost in the minds of civic and education officials. Gun violence in the United States continues despite the fact that it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to buy a handgun.  According to a recent report issued by the Department of Education over 6000 students were expelled in 1999 for bringing guns into schools.  The same report it stated that 2 in 25 students admitted to carrying a gun to school within the previous 30 days.  Gun control and guns in schools are hot topics, and the sights and sounds of violence flood every type of media.  Of the total homicides among children worldwide, 73 percent of them occur in the US.  While my project does not investigatet the intricacies of preventing gun violence in school; it will address response to such an event.

It is estimated that as many as 2 million illegal guns were in circulation in  New York City in 1993. During that year, there were roughly 1,500 gun deaths (20 times the number in 1960) and 5,000 people were wounded in shootings.  With that many illegal guns in circulation, it is not unlikely that a tragedy such as that which happened in Columbine or Jonsboro could take place in New York City.  It is best to be prepared.

In the last five years New York city has transformed its delivery of emergency medical services.  EMS workers make sacrifices every day to save people's lives. Like firefighters and police officers, they run toward danger, not away from it.  To lower emergency response times in one of the most densely populated cities in the United States, New York expanded its emergency response tean.  By instituting a major program in which firefighters now act as certified first aid responders to medical emergencies, it has doubled its emergency response network.  The critical period in which emergencies should be reached is eight minutes.  In 1995 EMS responded to emergencies in New York City in 8 min and 45 seconds. "Of course, there's no such thing as responding too quickly to a medical emergency - so we still have work to do", stated New York Mayor Rudi Guilianni.

Emergency response personnel are experts at gathering information, synthesizing it, and then making a decision. A responder who has access to the most detailed and complete information will make the most informed decision.  GIS is an important tool in emergency response.  Recently, Iowa's emergency rescue team purchased GIS software to develop school safety strategies and protect students.  It will allow them to develop action plans prior to accident or crisis.  Not only will it help them respond to a crisis but it will help to evacuate students and personnel without additional casualties.  This application illustrates only the tip of the iceberg for which GIS software can be used in emergency response.

For my project I used GIS to find optimal emergency response routes to two of the larger schools in Manhattan, New York.   I then found response time catchment areas away from those schools based on time of day.