Panic buttons and door locks: After mass shooting, FSU invests $5M to bolster security
In the aftermath of the April 17 mass shooting at Florida State University , heightened security measures – such as panic and lockdown buttons – are being implemented while officials reassure students and parents that campus safety is the utmost priority.
FSU parent Lori Alhadeff is among those grateful for the new security measures. Her daughter Alyssa was killed during the devastating 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglass shooting in Parkland.
"FSU holds a special place in my heart... because my two boys are here as students," Alhadeff said while speaking at FSU's Aug. 29 Board of Trustees meeting at the Turnbull Conference Center on campus. She is also the CEO of Make Our School Safe , a national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting students and teachers.
"Together with your leadership, we have the power to save lives and create a future where no parent has to endure what I have," Alhadeff added. "Protecting our children is not an option – it's urgent and it's a responsibility that we all share."
During the April 17 shooting at FSU near the Student Union building , a gunman killed two and injured five students. The mass shooting left the campus community deeply shaken as students, faculty and staff wrapped up the spring semester.
FSU's Senior Vice President for Finance & Administration Kyle Clark and Assistant Vice President for Public Safety Barbara O'Connor gave updates during the Aug. 29 trustees meeting on what their teams have been working on this summer following the tragedy, which include the installation of hundreds of new panic and lockdown buttons in classrooms.
"It means the world that they've continued to invest in campus security," FSU Student Body President and trustee Carson Dale told the Tallahassee Democrat after the meeting. "It feels like there's been a lot of healing that's happened compared to where we were last spring, and I think walking into classrooms and seeing those panic buttons is a nice visual reminder of the increased safety measures that are on campus now."
Related news: After FSU shooting, Florida universities to assess campus security, lockdown drills
What are new security updates at FSU following the mass shooting?
Among security changes on FSU's campus will be the much-anticipated additions of door locks to every classroom. All interior doors to academic spaces that do not have electronic locks will be equipped with manual thumb-turn or push-button lock systems.
Before this fall, not all academic buildings had doors that locked, leaving students fearing for their lives while sheltering in place during the shooting. Over 32,000 members of the FSU community signed a petition to put locks on all classroom doors following the shooting.
In the chaotic hours after the shooting, law enforcement kicked in over 300 doors while clearing buildings and evacuating students.
As for the new button installations in academic buildings, the panic buttons are blue, which silently alert the FSU Police Department's dispatch center when pressed. Across campus, 290 classrooms have already been equipped with manual locking hardware and panic buttons on the university's campus, according to Clark.
Lockdown buttons are yellow, automatically locking the door to a room and notifying FSU PD dispatch when activated. Only FSU PD are able to access a room from the outside that has activated a lockdown button.
The university also released an instructional video on new campus security systems, and active threat training is available to individuals in the campus community.
The price of safety: FSU has invested millions in security since shooting
FSU spent $5 million on the security improvements made over the summer following the campus shooting, and over the past four years, the university has invested almost $30 million in public safety. Those investments include programs to enhance police recruitment and retention as well as additional command staff and dispatchers to FSU PD.
In addition, the Make Our School Safe organization most recently donated $250,000 to advance safety efforts at FSU, Alhadeff said.
"About a year ago, Kyle and I had a meeting about putting together a committee to invest into the campus's safety," FSU President Richard McCullough told the Democrat. "The recommendations were prepared before the shooting, actually, so we were moving in that direction to improve safety. I'm very proud of the team. It's great that we have even better campus security that before."
While 330 lockdown buttons have been installed in academic buildings on campus, 70 are under construction and will be ready for the spring. Other safety enhancements in the works at FSU include suicide mitigation fencing that will be installed across campus in areas such as multi-story parking garages, Clark said.
It is unclear what further security changes are on the horizon, but the university is making efforts to keep up with the latest technology.
After hearing about the latest security changes, FSU trustee Jim Henderson suggested that public safety be a recurring agenda item at board meetings moving forward for members to continue receiving updates. "There's so many things that we have a responsibility for, but this is at the top of the list," Henderson said.
(The headlines on this story were updated to correct how much FSU spent on security improvements since the mass shooting.)
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com . Follow her on X: @tarahjean_ .
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State getting panic buttons, door locks after mass shooting
