Table of Contents
What Is Alyssa’s Law?
Alyssa Alhadeff’s Story
Alyssa’s Law Requirements
Where Is Alyssa’s Law In Effect?
How To Prepare For Alyssa’s Law
What Is Alyssa’s Law?
Alyssa’s Law is legislation to improve the response time of law enforcement during emergencies in public schools. It mandates that all public elementary and secondary school buildings be equipped with silent panic alarms that directly notify law enforcement.
Alyssa Alhadeff’s Story
Alyssa Alhedeff was a 14-year old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. She was a victim on February 14, 2018 when a former student killed 17 people in a mass school shooting.
Legislation was expedited in the wake of the tragedy and the final version of the law was named in Alyssa’s memory.
(NOTE: The Viking PB-3 is a panic button capable of contacting emergency authorities directly using existing telephone service. For more information, learn more about the PB-3 here).
Alyssa’s Law Requirements
Alyssa’s law requires all public elementary and secondary school buildings to be equipped with a silent panic alarm connected to local law enforcement.
According to New Jersey’s version of Alyssa’s Law:
“Panic alarm” means a silent security system signal generated by the manual activation of a device intended to signal a life-threatening or emergency situation requiring a response from law enforcement.
for use in a school security emergency including, but not limited to, a non-fire evacuation, lockdown, or active shooter situation.
…it should not be audible in the school building.
Where Is Alyssa’s Law In Effect?
Alyssa’s Law was implemented in New Jersey on February 6, 2019.
New York, Florida, and Nebraska also have versions of Alyssa’s Law that have been submitted to the legislature and are still being processed by committees.
On October 4th, 2019 Alyssa’s Law was introduced to Congress at the Federal Level.
The Make Our Schools Safe organization is tracking the progress of Alyssa’s Law and similar legislation.
How to prepare for Alyssa’s Law
Public elementary and secondary schools have the opportunity to work with local alarm and telephone system installers to stay ahead of legislation and prepare for Alyssa’s Law. Being proactive means schools have more power to decide when alarm system upgrades and changes take place.
Waiting to make these changes until Alyssa’s Law is ratified exposes students and staff to increased risk.
Talk with your local alarm or telephone system installer today about how you can decrease emergency response times and stay ahead of Alyssa’s Law.
If you need assistance finding a local installer, contact Viking Electronics at info@vikingelectronics.com and request a list of installers in your local area.
