Brian Sweatt of Lighthouse Christian School describes his experience with Defend Systems and their active shooter training.

Keri Pagetta with Safe Haven Family Shelter describes her experience with Defend Systems

As the director of an early childhood program, health and safety is a high priority, especially given America’s gun violence epidemic. We are grateful for the work of Brink Fidler and Defend Systems. They assessed our existing emergency plan and gave us thoughtful recommendations for security upgrades.  Additionally, Defend Systems offered an intense personalized training program for our full staff to ensure that our program is prepared to quickly respond to and neutralize any incident of violence.  My team left the training empowered and armed with concrete strategies for prevention and effective emergency response.  I highly recommend Defend Systems as the go-to for relevant and research-based training. 

Cindy Ligon, Director of Early Childhood Education, McKendree United Methodist Church, Nashville, TN

As the CEO of a nonprofit serving children, families, and seniors, the safety of our clients is at the top of my mind. After seeing Brink Fidler do a presentation, I knew we needed to hire Defend Systems.  Brink and his team walked our campus, mapped out our safe zones and identified our vulnerabilities.  They made recommendations for building improvements, trained our staff on safety and medical response techniques, and helped us choose other vendors to make our organization safe.  We could not have done this with just any consultant.  I cannot recommend Defend Systems highly enough.  If you are responsible for the safety and security of some of our most vulnerable people, you shouldn’t wait to call Defend Systems.

 Corey Gephart, CEO, St. Luke’s Community House, Nashville, TN

I highly recommend any business, school, church or private home to have Defend Systems do a walk through to see how you can improve the safety of your employees, congregation or family.  

 Brink walked through our church facility to see how we can keep our homeschool students safe during our one-day-per-week program. Then, he gave the tutors a training with practical strategies on how to prevent and respond to an active shooter situation. The educational training was really informative and helpful. He will find strategies that work for your particular organization. 

 I truly appreciate Brink and know that he is using the gifts God has given him, along with his incredible background in law enforcement, to keep people safe!!  

 Karina Hammer, Executive Director, Bellevue Home School Enrichment & Tutorials, Nashville, TN

" Defend Systems has been invaluable to our organization. They helped us identify security issues and consulted with us on how to create and implement (if ever necessary) an emergency plan that keeps everyone as safe as possible. When we began planning our move to our current facility, they helped us by identifying areas that needed to be more secure and suggested ways to make it happen. They not only consulted with us, but also provided training for staff members. Because of their knowledge and commitment to the safety of children, we are able to offer a secure environment for the children and families we serve. "

- Melanie Anderson, Director of Education, High Hopes Development Center, Franklin, TN 

" Defend Systems was an amazing resource to our school, Holy Trinity Montessori, as we built and designed our new campus. They are extremely knowledgeable in their expertise of safety, school trauma and emergency awareness. In this day and age, schools must live in a very different time of awareness and safety and having Defend Systems as a resource has been invaluable.

As we designed our new campus, we looked at all issues of intrusion, school shooting and school emergencies. The team at Defend Systems was able to advise us in this journey as seen in our design process with the architecture firm. I would recommend Defend Systems and their expertise in any emergency situation consulting. We have enjoyed working with them and look forward to working with them in the future."

- Kate Riley, Head of School, Holy Trinity Montessori, Nashville, TN

" Thanks so much for your excellent work which will help us provide better security for the residents and associates at Villa Maria Manor and Mary, Queen of Angels. I believe your approach to this challenge shows your experience and is unlike what we learned from other resources. You offered practical solutions that will help us convey that we are not a soft target. It feels good to be acting proactively to make it difficult for those who would do us harm. Great job! "

- David Glascoe, Executive Director, Mary Queen of Angels, Assisted Living Community

“We appreciate and admire Brink Fidler and “Defend Systems” passion and commitment to providing the training and “action planning” to our company that is so necessary and relevant to today’s world. Not only did they provide a customized, site specific, emergency response protocol, as well as emergency medical response training, but also referred and collaborated with other resources to provide additional physical security analysis and enhanced safety measures. In addition to the excellent training and security enhancements, we were also provided “in-house” training materials for new staff members. Thanks Brink and the “Defend Systems” team for your expertise and professional security services!”

- Amelia Baldwin, Chief Operating Officer, Onsite Workshops, Cumberland Furnace, TN

“As an employer, the safety and security of our employees is always top priority. With the most recent events involving armed assaults on businesses and schools, we believed it was of the upmost importance to prepare our team of employees for this type of horrific event. Our experience with Defend Systems and Brink Fidler was impeccable. Brink came out and personally did a walk through with me of our entire facility and we discussed areas of concern that could increase the possibilities of a breach in our building security. Brink shared with us what we were already doing right and what we could improve upon. Brink then prepared our training and came out to our facility to perform both classroom and live fire training. This simulated throughout several areas of the plant what different types of gunfire would sound like. This was performed in a safe and contained manner and gave the most real life experience possible for our employees. Brink also includes training on dressing trauma wounds that is hands on and informative. 

Overall, we had a wonderful experience with this training. Our employees were very pleased that we made sure they were educated on the possibilities of an active shooter or intruder situation. I received a lot of positive feedback. I would recommend this training to any employer or facility that desires to have a realistic training with someone who has the level of experience that Brink has. Your employees will appreciate it and your team will be prepared.”

- Jennifer Potts, Human Resources Manager, Tachi-S Automotive Seating Manufacturer, Mt. Juliet, TN

Defend Systems provided an exceptional training for our staff that was relevant to our facility and our specific needs. Renewal House provides specialized addiction treatment to women and their children in a campus environment. We learned many tips and techniques to prepare us for any situation. The site assessment helped us identify areas for improvement and the recommendations they provided are sound and completely attainable.  We are grateful for the services they provided and look forward to a continued relationship.

- Kim Haley, Operations Manager, Renewal House, Nashville, TN

If you are looking for a company that can help you and your employees to prepare for the unthinkable…………. an armed shooter in your facility, look no further. Defend Systems is that company.

Brink Fidler met with our management to explain what core methods of training and education that Defend Systems provides. Brink conducted a thorough walk through of our facility both office and warehouse to identify areas of concern or vulnerability. He provided corrective suggestions and praised us for the safety measures that were already in place.

Then it was time to enlighten our employees. Enlighten them he did. We hosted a day of training for all employees in which Brink provided a thorough insight into what can and has happened in active shooter situations and what we can do to try to keep our staff safe. Brink showed us what to do, what not to do, how to communicate concerns, pay attention to your surroundings, what does a gun with live ammo in it sound like in an office & warehouse, and basic first aid/trauma techniques. He reiterated, you have to have a plan and be prepared and decisive, do not hesitate. Be ready to live another day!

Since the training employees have expressed their gratitude that we care about their safety and enlightened them on this topic. They really connected with Brink.  We will continue to make improvements to our program and building.

I have already shared this program with several of my colleagues. I can certainly endorse the training from Defend Systems.

Thank you Brink

- Virginia Schmidt, VP of Human Resources   JPW Industries, Inc., La Vergne, TN