But the difference is that this company's product is so intelligent and helpful to society that we can't let the story of COPsync's rise and fall go unnoticed.
COPsync is an Addison-based company that sells a messaging system to law enforcement and public safety officials so they can tie in to a central system and share information in real time.
Get it? COPsync. Kudos to the name. But sad that the project isn't making money.
With more than 500 law enforcement agencies and school districts as customers in 16 states, COPsync should be a game changer. Small-town police departments, county sheriffs and constables across Texas are among its many customers, sharing information together on their computers, phones and patrol car monitors.
If COPsync were to go out of business, a lot of public safety enterprises would lose their flow of information. That's why this isn't your average company with bungling managers. Here we have a public company in control of massive amounts of police data and intelligence from communities across the nation.
What is COPsync?
COPsync products share information about people, places and situations quickly across department lines. COPsync serves as an antidote to the longtime flaw that police agencies couldn't talk to one another quickly enough when it matters most.If, for example, an officer makes a traffic stop for someone who has a felony warrant, the system grabs that and automatically alerts nearby officers. A history tab brings up the individual's history, including previous traffic stops.
The company's school-security app allows instantaneous communication between schools and police in an emergency.
If you like the idea of law enforcement sharing information to protect the public, this is good stuff.
What's not such good stuff are the adults in the room. Leaders of the company are fighting among themselves and putting the company's future at risk. Employees are going without pay in some cases, waiting for the company to prosper.
COPsync's fall from grace began after its best times. Two years ago, the company raised $10.6 million in a stock offering, and launched itself on Nasdaq with the stock symbol COYN. Then the stock was split 1-to-50, meaning a single share suddenly turned into 50 shares. Riding high, for a blip, the company made its way onto a list of the top 150 largest public companies in North Texas (No. 146).
Where did the money go? Money was spent on consultants, technology, marketing and sales, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings and interviews with current employees. Ronald A. Woessner, the former CEO who was fired in March, still sits on the board of directors and controls a majority vote. A quirk in the bylaws doesn't boot him out.
Woessner told me he is not allowed to comment.
"As soon as this mandate is lifted I am looking forward to speaking with you as I believe your style of investigative journalism is exactly what's needed here," he writes.
Commenters on a Yahoo Finance bulletin board write about the company and share frustration:
"Thought this company had such promise," one writes.
"Sad," writes another. "The police actually like their product. My son uses it and loves it."
"What's going on here?" asks a third. "Trading volume has collapsed. Stock price is pennies. ... Has everyone officially given up?"
COPsync board infighting
The founder hasn't surrendered. This week, company co-founder Russell Chaney, a board member, sent a blunt note to the majority board members."The three of you have decided to band together and destroy this great company knowingly," he writes in an email his allies sent to me. "You are costing the shareholders millions of dollars. You are costing the employees stability and places to live, and you are destroying the lives of thousands protected by this software."
In an interview, Chaney said, "We can't pay our bills, and we can't pay our vendors. We have no money."
COPsync tries to save itself
The story proves that no matter how smart the product is, bungling leaders can ruin a good thing.Company spokesman Cynthia Vetter told me: "Our efforts to restructure and reorganize COPsync are ongoing. We have a restructuring team in place working diligently to make positive changes for all stakeholders including employees, customers, vendors and shareholders. We are committed to increasing the safety of law enforcement and communities, and we have not wavered from that commitment."
One investor in the company is Attorney General Ken Paxton, who reported in a financial disclosure statement that he owned more than 10,000 shares. Paxton writes that his money is in a blind trust, and he doesn't know if he owns COPsync stock or not since he doesn't keep track of his holdings anymore.
A future for COPsync?
To save the company, COPsync leaders now search for more investors.It's a risk, but many believe in the product. When 911 systems across the nation were flooded and crashed recently, COPsync bragged that its messaging systems weren't affected.
"The value of our product is immense," says Jan Roe, COPsync's director of government relations.
Yet the company hangs on by a thread. No one knows what will happen next — or how to save it.
©2017 The Dallas Morning News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
