Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a regulation Thursday requiring New York faculty districts to contemplate putting in silent panic alarms to immediately alert authorities throughout emergencies.
The methods, which price just a few thousand dollars and could be accessed by way of a smartphone app, would permit faculties to bypass 911 and discreetly join with regulation enforcement “so no time is misplaced,” Hochul stated throughout a press convention.
“We noticed in Uvalde, in Parkland — police response time is crucial to saving lives,” she stated, referring to the Might 24 faculty capturing in Texas that killed 19 college students and two lecturers, and the one in Florida in 2018 that left 17 individuals lifeless.
The laws is known as “Alyssa’s Regulation” after 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, who was one of many college students slaughtered throughout the bloodbath at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland.
The governor’s announcement got here simply moments after the Supreme Courtroom struck down a century-old New York regulation that restricted the carrying of hid firearms.
“I consider that we’ll be judged by historical past,” Hochul stated. “Can we arise with braveness? Can we make the appropriate selections? Can we put the lives of others first — the appropriate of a kid to remain alive at school versus the appropriate of somebody to hold a gun?”
“I do know the place I come down on that equation,” she added.
The governor signed the invoice, which handed the state legislature final month, alongside the Alhadeff household, and state and native officers. The United Federation of Lecturers additionally threw its help behind the laws.
Alhadeff’s dad and mom have been pushing for the invoice’s passage in New York for 3 years. The regulation is already on the books in Florida and in New Jersey.
“Alyssa was our all the things,” stated Alyssa’s mother, Lori Alhadeff. “A vibrant scholar, gifted soccer participant who wore the quantity 8, a beautiful good friend to all that knew her, the middle of our household.”
“Alyssa and her reminiscence is on the coronary heart of this regulation. And the scholars and lecturers within the state of New York will now profit out of your help of this laws.”
Alhadeff’s grandmother, Terri Rabinowitz, advised The Submit the household’s aim is to get the regulation handed nationwide.
“I do know from being with superintendents of faculties all through the state of Florida it has already saved lives, lecturers and college students, not an energetic shooter, however simply medical emergencies as properly,” Rabinowitz stated.
“If we had one thing like that in Parkland, wanting again, it might have saved [lives],” she added.
Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams, stated the administration is at the moment analyzing the regulation to see how New York Metropolis might praise security protocols already in place — like faculty security brokers with direct traces to police headquarters in case of emergency.
“The protection of our kids is that this administration’s high precedence,” he stated.
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