POLSON – The Polson School District is implementing a new, non-lethal option to help combat violent intruders.
“Were installing Reflex Protect and training the teachers in how to use this sort of last resort non lethal defense answer to the arm the teachers debate,” Reflex Protect CEO Joe Anderson said.
Reflex Protect is a non-lethal defense tool that is especially applicable in a school setting because of its new pistol style spray head and the properties of its chemical projectile.
“We used Iocane, which is a CS gel. It’s not pepper spray, it’s a different substance that’s odorless and colorless. We can get it in a very fine, sticky spray so it lands in one spot, it does its job and then it disappears,” Anderson said. “So it’s a whole new product that’s very similar to other products its just its time has come.”
Reflex Protect was initially developed to be used in hospitals, but the national school shooting epidemic caused the company to pivot.
“We began using it for hospitals and once we realized it was safe enough for a hospital that was about the time that Parkland happened and that’s when the call came for us to make one for schools,” Anderson said. “Polson is the first school in Montana and, in fact, the first in the country to implement this new solution.”
Being the first school to use the product might put Polson on the forefront of developing new school safety techniques.
“This couldn’t have happened anywhere but Montana. I’m delighted to been able to work with a whole bunch of great Montanans to get us here and we look forward to sharing it with everybody else in the state,” Anderson said.
Other schools in Montana have begun to approach Reflex Protect about using the product, such as the Sun River Valley School District.
