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KINGSTON — Keys with microchips. Locks that monitor who enters a room at any given time. Locks that can be opened from cell phone apps. Bullet-proof doors. The future of security has arrived.

In light of recent shootings at a community college in Oregon and at Arizona University, school officials throughout the Wyoming Valley were invited to the ASSA ABLOY School Security Mobile Showroom Thursday to get a look at the latest security devices to make buildings and classrooms safe.

The event, sponsored by Door Security Solutions (DSS) Tri-State and Denisco Kindler Group, featured a number of different security devices. Some of the products included eCylinders, keys with microchips that don’t need to be turned to open a door.

DSS Tri-State and Denisco Kindler Group is an independent sales force representing ASSA ABLOY, a lock manufacturer based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Other locks can be monitored to tell who entered a room at any given time. Some locks have the capability to be opened by downloading an app onto a cell phone and waving it in front of a card reader.

The classroom also featured several types of doors, some of which are bullet resistant.

Tony Denisco, principal of DSS Tri-State and Denisco Kindler Group, said the company began focusing more on school security after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, a school in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 first-graders and six adults were killed by a gunman on Dec. 14, 2012.

The company has seven other mobile classrooms, which Denisco said travel all over the country and have been seen by over 25,000 people from schools, colleges and other facilities this year alone.

Officials from Wyoming Seminary were among those to browse the security technology.

“Maintaining the safety and security of all members of the Wyoming Seminary community is a top priority for the school, and the administration is continuously surveying new security strategies and equipment as they come on the market,” said spokeswoman Gail Smallwood. “The school also runs regular drills to practice and refine safety and security protocols to maintain high levels of security on campus.”

In the wake of the Umpqua Community College shooting near Rosenburg, Oregon on Oct. 1, Denisco said the turnouts to other mobile classrooms have increased. At Umpqua, a gunman fatally shot nine people and injured nine others on the campus

“This is a great tool for us because we bring the product to the customer,” he said. “We’ve seen that the turnout for us has been overwhelming, because everybody is concerned about their students, their children’s safety in the school.”

Denisco said that, on average, it takes first responders five to eight minutes to respond to the scene of an active shooter.

His company is in the “prevention business” and looks to keep people safe until help arrives.

“If we can do one thing and that’s to secure our children or anyone in a school before an active shooter comes in and we save some lives, we’ve done our job,” he said.

Denisco said officials from his company have worked with schools in the Pittston Area School District and will do the same for the proposed new Wilkes-Barre Area School District.

He explained the service is done free of charge and ultimately helps school officials see where they could make potential improvements in terms of security.

“At the end of the day, we want someone to look at their system, see if it’s adequate and, if it’s not, then we need to try to change it,” Denisco said.

Door Security Solutions Tri-State of Kingston shows a mobile classroom to representatives from local school districts, colleges and hospitals Thursday in Kingston.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL100915security1.jpg.optimal.jpgDoor Security Solutions Tri-State of Kingston shows a mobile classroom to representatives from local school districts, colleges and hospitals Thursday in Kingston. Clark Van Orden | Times Leader

Examples of some of the door security systems shown to representatives from local school districts and hospitals Thursday at Denisco Kindler Group /DSS Tri-State in Kingston.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_TTL100915security21.jpg.optimal.jpgExamples of some of the door security systems shown to representatives from local school districts and hospitals Thursday at Denisco Kindler Group /DSS Tri-State in Kingston. Clark Van Orden | Times Leader

By Travis Kellar

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Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews