by KYW's Brad Segall
Montgomery County officials are now moving with a sense of urgency on a plan to put "panic buttons" in schools countywide, following Tuesday’s shooting at Springfield High School (see related story).
Following earlier school shootings in Lancaster, Pa., officials announced a plan to outfit all school buildings in the county with panic buttons. Now, they hope to begin testing the system in some schools as early as this spring.
County commissioner Tom Ellis says it won’t stop violence in schools, but it’s the county’s proactive response to the school safety issue:
"The point of it is to lessen response time, to get the police and emergency personnel to schools quicker, to lessen confusion. It has the advantages of being discreet -- unlike a cell phone, you don’t have to pull it out of your pocket.”
The button (similar to photo above) could be worn by school personnel or installed under a desk.
Ellis says they are surveying schools now to get floor plans, and with this system those plans could be transmitted to police cars by computer.
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