NYC launches pilot for automated 911 alert system across city’s public schools

On Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a new pilot program that will integrate an automated 911 emergency alert system across the city’s public schools, with the hopes of providing faster responses during active shooter situations.

The new Emergency Alert System, or EAS, which was created by the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation, debuted this week at the Spring Creek Community School campus in Brooklyn. Adams’ office claims the system makes the school building in first the United States to have direct 911 integration. The office said the EAS provides an immediate, secure and automated pathway for public schools to directly initiate 911 calls after weapon-based threats or active shooter situations.

“For the first time ever in our nation, a public school system will have direct integration with 911 services to ensure that help is on the way within seconds if there is ever an active shooter or weapon-based threat,” Adams said in the announcement. “Every parent deserves to know their child is safe in school, and this system gives them that peace of mind. We’ve already taken more than 24,097 illegal guns off our streets, and now we’re making sure our classrooms have the strongest, fastest protection possible.”

The EAS can be activated from fixed buttons and wireless lanyards, initiating a 911 response in fewer than 10 seconds and kicking off an automated notification system. An alert through the EAS bypasses the regular 911 call flow and provides a direct alert to an emergency dispatcher, who can put out a call over radio and update information on the emergency system’s dashboard to provide first responders with pertinent information on the school.

When activated, the EAS also provides audible and visual indicators notifying students and faculty on site that 911 has been notified and that the school is on a hard lockdown. Electronic notifications are sent to NYPD School Safety and New York City Public Schools officials.

Work to build the system began in late 2023, the announcement said. The Public Safety and Emergency Management division of the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation started working with the Mayor’s Office, New York City Public Schools and NYPD’s School Safety Division to research options for a school panic button with direct connectivity to 911 in response to active-shooter scenarios. At the time, the city says no such product existed on the market and that other options transferred emergency calls through a remote system in another state before routing back to New York.

The city worked with a vendor to build a new EAS, then rebuilt and tested the system to confirm its effectiveness, according to the announcement. The office also created digital dashboards that provide law enforcement and school officials with information.

This school year, the EAS pilot program will roll out to 51 schools located in 25 buildings, or five sites per New York City borough.

“As a father of school-aged children, there is nothing more important to me than my kids returning home safe at the end of the day. This brand-new Emergency Alert System, the nation’s first to directly integrate schools with 911 in a hard lockdown event, marks a crucial advance in our city’s broader school safety efforts and provides additional peace of mind — a priceless commodity — for the parents and families of students,” New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser said in the announcement.

The pilot arrives amid growing questions about the advantages and drawbacks of public safety technologies in schools. A number of school safety experts have warned about the dangers of relying on technology in response to active shooter situations on school campuses. A Long Island school district is facing criticism for its use of a threat-detection system that relies on artificial intelligence and cameras in classrooms and other indoor areas.