Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Alyssa’s Law, requiring silent alarms at all Florida public schools

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a new law Tuesday that requires all public schools in the state of Florida to have a silent panic alarm.

Alyssa’s Law was named in honor of Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, who was killed in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Students or teachers will be able to push the buttons inside their classrooms, directly alerting law enforcement of what and where the threat may be, cutting down on response times.

“If a panic button was pushed, and it was a direct link to law enforcement, they would know where the threat was because it’s geofenced to the area,” Alyssa’s mother and Broward County School Board Member Lori Alhadeff said last year as the bill was making its way through the Florida Legislature.

Panic button technology that is already available can work through a smart phone application, allowing users to notify authorities.

Users can even categorize incidents, such as a medical emergency or an active shooter.

“We need to provide all these layers and hopefully we will stop the next school shooting,” Alhadeff said.