MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. — To ensure the safety of students in staff, the Montgomery County public safety department has installed the Lynx wireless panic button system in 474 schools.
Designed by Micro Technology Services, the Lynx system sends a signal that arrives at the county’s 911 dispatch center within two seconds of a user pressing the activation button. The alert them prompts the center to dispatch police closest to the school, as well as sending out a floor plan of the campus to patrol care computers. The goal is to get first-responders to the scene of a school incident as quickly as possible, PhillyBurbs.com reports.
County officials decided to implement the Countywide Law Enforcement Alerting System (CLASS) in response to the October 2006 incident where five Amish girls were murdered at their Lancaster County, Pa.-based school. Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, more schools have expressed interest in the system. Currently, the county averages roughly five installations per week.
