Rich Onofrio of SDS: ‘We are poised for a very exciting 2024'

YARMOUTH, Maine – Shooter Detection Systems (SDS) is making a strong start in 2024 with its #TakeAction initiative, and it wants everyone to get onboard.

The initiative has been designed to provide participants with the resources to personally lobby their place of business or child’s school to deploy gunshot detection technology to create a safer environment that can alert law enforcement in the event of an active shooter incident. Security Systems News (SSN) interviewed Rich Onofrio, chief technology officer, Shooter Detection Systems, to learn more about #TakeAction and how SDS is coming along in 2024.

SSN: Mr. Onofrio, could you tell me how you’re settling into your role as the chief technology officer for Shooter Detection Systems? 

ONOFRIO: It’s been great to be back with the engineering team and be able to give it my full-time focus again after leading the company as managing director. We have rolled out exciting product developments like our unique integration with Noonlight to dramatically improve the communication flow between 911 dispatchers and first responders during a shooting in progress. In addition to the exciting engineering developments we’re working on with Alarm.com, I’m extremely proud to see how our SecureGrants program is helping schools and nonprofits secure their buildings with gunshot detection and other security systems. We are poised for a very exciting 2024 as a company.

SSN: Could you tell me more about the #TakeAction initiative? Is it similar to your SecureGrants program?

ONOFRIO: When we talk to parents, teachers, and even our friends and family about what we do at SDS, a common response we hear is, “I wish my school/work/library could have that technology, I’d feel a lot safer.” Our #TakeAction initiative is our first-ever grassroots effort to empower everyone with information they can use to start the conversation with their school communities, employers, and local businesses around how to increase their own personal protection against gun violence. If we can help create meaningful dialogue about people’s fears about gun violence and have it be a solutions-oriented conversation, we will have made a difference with the #TakeAction initiative.

The relationship between #TakeAction and SecureGrants is twofold. First, #TakeAction is an avenue to help citizens let their schools and local nonprofits understand that we can help them get funding not just for gunshot detection, but for the infrastructure they might need to even get started with a network-based security system. Second, we have found that the agency that administers federal government grants for safe schools does not explicitly include gunshot detection in their grant’s language.  Because states often mirror federal guidance, this creates a headwind to a holistic approach to active shooter defenses.  #TakeAction also provides people with a path to communicating their desire for change to their congressional representatives. 

SSN: With all the work the company is doing how do you think SDS stands apart from its competitors in the industry?

ONOFRIO: SDS stands apart in several key ways.  First, our dedication to leading the industry in gunshot detection accuracy coupled with our precision that drastically reduces false alarms over other players in the space.  With our use of acoustic and infrared detection, we avoid the false alarms that are common with acoustic only gunshot detection.  False alarms, like Swatting calls, cause unnecessary alarm and increase the risk of a fully armed response by authorities.

Second, our software as a service (SaaS) offering that combines our sister company Noonlight’s monitoring and PSAP communication integration allows for quicker notification and response.  During an active shooter event, every second can mean the difference in the number of victims.

Finally, the acquisition of SDS by Alarm.com several years ago provides the long-term backing that many startups lack.  Customers want to know who that are dealing with, and that those partners will be around for the long haul.  SDS and Alarm.com provide that assurance.

SSN: Is there anything you’d like to discuss that we haven’t covered?

ONOFRIO: Alarm.com is one of the best in the business when it comes to its dedication to the training, development, and support of its service providers. We’ve been leveraging their expertise and finding synergies between the SDS and Alarm.com dealer networks to help scale our gunshot detection deployments across all types of verticals, especially in the commercial space. As a result, I think in 2024 you’ll start to see more security service providers offering gunshot detection as a part of their standard package of security systems recommendations for small businesses concerned with gun violence threats.

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With over a decade of experience, Onofrio came to SDS from Raytheon BBN Technologies,  where he worked as an electrical engineer on a wide range of gunshot detection systems including Boomerang, as well as soldier-worn, helicopter-based and other infrared/acoustic-based gunshot detection systems. He was also lead hardware designer of the SDS indoor gunshot detection product and an original employee of the company.

Beyond the design of these products Onofrio has participated extensively with originations in their testing and validation of gunshot detection products including: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Army and Air Force Research Labs, and the UK’s Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), as well as numerous police departments and corporate security groups. He currently serves as a committee member of the National Fire Protection Agency NFPA-3000 “Active Shooter and Hostile Event Response” (ASHER) standard.

Previously, Onofrio held the role of vice president of hardware engineering until his appointment to managing director in June 2021, and later assumed the role of chief technology officer (CTO) in 2023 upon the retirement of the company’s co-founder and former CTO Ron Fowler.