Georgia Teachers Activate Panic Buttons During Shooting, Alerting Police – Reuters

By Andrew Hay

Teachers at a Georgia high school, where a tragic shooting resulted in four fatalities on Wednesday, used newly implemented wearable panic buttons to notify law enforcement of their immediate danger. The system had been in place for only a week.

The responding officers had the capability to pinpoint the location of the panic button activation on their mobile devices, which showed maps of the expansive Apalachee High School campus located approximately 40 miles northeast of Atlanta. The alleged shooter, a 14-year-old student at the school, now faces four counts of murder and will be prosecuted as an adult.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith discussed the panic button system during a press conference on Wednesday, stating, "It alerts us to that there is an active situation at the school for whatever reason, and it was pressed."

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a school resource officer managed to apprehend the shooter within six minutes of the first reports of the incident, although it remains unclear if the alert originated from a panic button.

Mac Hardy of the National Association of School Resource Officers emphasized the advantages of the new system, stating, "There is no calling, there is no dispatching, they are moving directly towards that threat. We can’t say that lives were saved, but I would like to believe they were."

Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, which claimed the lives of 17 individuals, silent panic alarm systems linked to law enforcement have gained popularity in schools across the United States. However, only a few states currently mandate or promote such systems, which can impose considerable financial burdens on school districts. Critics, like Sonali Rajan, an associate professor at Columbia University, argue that these reactive safety measures lack sufficient scientific backing for their implementation.

Rajan stressed that panic buttons are not a comprehensive solution, advocating for a proactive, multifaceted approach that includes threat assessment through online monitoring, legislative reforms concerning gun safety, secure firearm storage, and improved access to mental health care.

"There is no one single solution," Rajan stated.

The panic buttons, resembling ID cards and worn on lanyards, utilize private networks within the school instead of relying on cellular signals, making them easily accessible and straightforward to use. Sheriff Smith confirmed that Apalachee High School’s system is provided by Centegix, one of several U.S. companies offering such safety solutions.