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How Alyssa’s Law Will Change the Approach to School Safety

Florida passed a major law affecting school safety in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018, in Parkland, Florida. Known as Alyssa’s Law, it mandates that all schools install a silent alarm that communicates directly with Law Enforcement and First Responders in the event that there was an active shooter today. The school threat has not significantly diminished over the years and school security continues to evolve as we learn more and more about the best ways to approach these mass shootings and workplace shooting events. It is refreshing to a concerned public to see these states take action and Alyssa’s Law requires this upgrade to school security be completed by the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year.  Initially passed in New Jersey, Alyssa’s Law was signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on June, 30 2020.

The definition of a mass shooting has never really been settled over the years, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation currently defines mass murder as an incident where four or more people are murdered without a “cooling-off period” between the murders. Unfortunately, this includes most of the mass shootings in recent history. Alyssa’s Law was named after Alyssa Alhadeff, one of the many students killed in the 2018 Parkland High School Massacre.

The rise in active shooter incidents has led to an increase in run hide fight video training at schools and in corporate settings, but officials realized the need for a more effective coordinated response between law enforcement and school security. The debate over Alyssa’s law was almost non-existent with unanimous victories in both the Florida House and Senate after being sponsored by Senator Lauren Book and State Representatives Michael Gottlieb and Dan Daley.

The active shooter Texas had the misfortune to deal with this in the same year and also resulted in massive casualties. The Santa Fe High School shooting took the lives of ten people and injured an additional thirteen. In that case, the active shooter was not apprehended by police until 25 minutes into the incident. Like the Texas active shooter, the active shooter in the Stoneman Douglas incident operated without any contravention for six minutes before blending in with the fleeing crowds and temporarily escaping. Many school districts in Florida already have metal detectors in schools, but these efforts can be circumvented without strict single point of entry protocols.

An effective answer to the mandates of Alyssa’s Law comes from ASR Technologies. ASR Alert Systems feature state-of-the-art alert technology that directly notifies Law Enforcement and First Responders that there is an ongoing incident and also supplies the exact location to on-scene personnel. Unlike the mistaken reports in the Great Mall shooting incident, ASR Alert Systems connect the responders directly to the source of the violence, significantly cutting down response times and minimizing ambiguity. Similar to an intruder alarm, pressing the threat button immediately initiates a response.

With the rise in mass shootings in recent years, it has never been more important to enhance the security infrastructure of our schools. Pairing administrative efforts like Alyssa’s Law with the incredible technology available in ASR Alert Systems will have a lasting effect on the safety of our educational institutions. While no amount of efforts can ever completely remove the school threat, we can improve school security today and significantly reduce the potential for lost lives in our most vulnerable locations.