State Rep. Daisy Morales, D-Orlando, announced she plans to reintroduce legislation to create an Active Shooter Alert System in Florida after the New York City subway shooting rampage.
According to news reports, the subway shooting suspect said in a video: “I’m 62 now: full of hate, full anger, full bitterness.”
During the 2022 Legislative Session, Morales filed HB a bill to require the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to implement an alert system to be activated on the report of an active shooter. The alert system would then notify residents within a 50-mile radius of the shooter’s location. The bill would also require the Florida Department of Transportation to establish a plan for providing relevant information to the public within the 50-mile radius using their existing dynamic message signs.
This legislation will give law enforcement an important tool that could prove to be life-saving in the event of an active shooter is on the run. Delayed alerts in any active shooter situation would unnecessarily put Floridians’ lives in harm’s way.
“We know that in active shooter situations, notification and response times are critical to saving lives. This Active Shooter Alert System creates a notification if there is an active shooter situation in an area of Florida. The idea with the warning system is to model it after emergency alerts used to notify people of abducted children (AMBER Alerts), missing seniors (Silver Alerts) or when members of law enforcement are critically injured (Blue Alert), ” said Morales.
Morales said she plans to meet with state law enforcement officials, the Sheriffs’ Association and the Police Chiefs Association in refining this legislation ahead of the next legislative session.
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