NYACK – A Nyack family is teaming up with State Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick (D, Nyack) and Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski (D, Orangeburg) to advocate for a new bill that would require silent alarms to be installed in every public school in New York.
“Alyssa’s Law,” named in honor of Alyssa Alhadeff, one of the 17 people killed during the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, would equip schools with panic alarms for use in an active-shooter situation. Legislators and activists argue that these alarms will save lives by reducing the response time of emergency services and providing a covert method of contacting authorities.
“Whoever saves one life saves the world,” said Alyssa’s cousin Jadyn Turner, during a news conference in Nyack to announce the bill. Standing side by side with her father, Jordan, she said the quote from the Talmud has stayed with her in the years since the tragic loss of her cousin; the Turner family is championing the legislation in the hopes that it “can save even one life.”
Zebrowski and Reichlin-Melnick share their sentiment. The two have redrafted a bill that was originally proposed by former Senator David Carlucci and former Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffe. The updated bill calls for alarms that can be installed cheaply – estimated at $5,000 per school – and can be triggered remotely and discreetly via smartphone.
“This is a bill which is going to help students stay safe all across New York State,” said Reichlin-Melnick. The senator said that several other states have adopted or are considering similar measures and that some schools in the Empire State are already equipped with alarms that are comparable to the ones the proposed law would require.
The state currently has no standardized or recommended procedure for contacting the police during the event of an active school shooting.
