UW-Whitewater installs life-saving device in classrooms

WHITEWATER, Wis. (WMTV)--There's a new tool on UW-Whitewater's campus and it's designed to save lives.

"Reality is that a good response is two minutes or less. That is what we hope for but in those types of situations, two minutes is a lifetime,” said Chief Matt Kiederlen, UW-Whitewater police.

It’s called a nightlock and it's a tool that Chief Matt Kiederlen hopes, no one will ever have to use.

"A nightlock is a device used to barricade a door,” said Chief Kiederlen.

It's in every classroom on UW-Whitewater's campus and it’s used for an active shooter or emergency situation. Chief Kienderlen says it's a tool, that's really easy to use.

"To operate the device, an individual opens the box itself, opens the box, removes the device itself, you slide the ‘t’ section onto the ‘t’ slot down and you’re not going to get through that door,” said Chief Kiederlen.

He says while the device is designed to not let anyone in, there's a special key that pops off the device that only officers carry.

"It would let us make an entry at the end of an event because people are going to be hesitant to open those doors. If someone was trying to use it against our students, we can make entry to defeat that aspect also,” said Chief Kiederlen.

One nightlock device costs about $40. They've been installed on about 300 doors throughout UW-Whitewater's campus.