Enterprise Mobile Duress (EMD) Solutions: Panic Buttons in Schools & Businesses 

Imagine the power of every single teacher & staff member having the ability to press a button on a fob attached to their belt or on a lanyard around their neck – and this button would alert school staff AND first responders that they need help.  Now take this concept one step further:  this Panic Button ‘tells’ the user when its alarm notification has been transmitted to the intended recipients – the button vibrates in your hand, giving the user tactile feedback that the button is doing what the user wants it to do.  And finally, the Panic Button system provides the EXACT location of where the duress alarm came from – what room, what floor, even the user assigned to that button – to building staff and first responders via PrePlanLive.  All in  less than 6 seconds.  

Powerful stuff – and a tool that is needed in not just schools, but across a variety of different facilities.

Our partners in this endeavor to provide schools, government facilities, and businesses with a truly reliable mobile duress alarm solution have been in the wireless technology world for more than 20 years.  They’ve seen the trends come and go, new solutions rise and fall, etc. – all data points that tells us several important things about a reliable, enterprise-level mobile duress solution:  

• Hardwired systems are out.  Why install fixed alarm stations in public areas (hallways), requiring someone to expose themselves to danger to trigger the alarm, when you have much more cost effective mobile solutions?
• Systems that operate on WiFi, Bluetooth, and/or cellular service are not effective solutions.  With too many variables, you cannot guarantee the system will work when you need it.  These systems are frequently replaced with a solution like ours within 1 year of installation – while more than 90% of our partner’s first generation systems are still in use today – more than 20 years later.  This EMD system runs on its own self-sustaining & self-monitored RF network – a network that is completely wireless.
• The ability to precisely locate a Panic Button when activated is key to enabling efficient emergency response.  The ‘mesh’ created by the EMD system’s hybrid network allows the system to display the button’s location – overlayed on 2D building floor plans.  Alarms and location data are viewable on the system’s 11.5” control panel (one or more can be mounted in locations of your choosing) as well as through PrePlanLive’s Mass Notification interface.   

The PrePlanLive team spent a number of months researching Panic Button solutions, and we believe that we’ve partnered with the manufacturer of the best solution available.  This EMD system is scalable from the smallest of facilities to the most massive of campuses.  Equally as important is the flexibility and expandable nature of the system.  Standard features include:  

• 11.5” Control Panel with 4 Hour Battery Backup (with the option to install multiple Control Panels)
• Fob-style Panic Buttons with 16 Month Battery Life
• Low-visibility, Aesthetic Design Network Hardware

Optional features include:

• Fixed-mount Alarm Transmitter (for use at the front desk/Main Office/other discreet locations)
• Visual Alarm Indicators (wireless strobe lights that activate when an alarm is triggered)
• 2-line LED Display (provides visual text alerts when an alarm is triggered)
• Alarm-to-Radio Interface (using text-to-voice, the text of alarm notifications can be broadcast to handheld radios)
• Glass Break Detection Sensors
• Motion Sensors
• Carbon Monoxide Sensors

If you are interested in learning more, please give us a call (888-806-9045) or drop us an email (info@preplanlive.com).  Our team is happy to help in any way we can.

**NOTE:  Both PrePlanLive and our Enterprise Mobile Duress System qualify as “Eligible Expenditures” per the Michigan State Police guidelines for the 2019 Competitive School Safety Grant Program.  PrePlanLive has “lockdown initiation capability” AND “provides incident notifications to law enforcement and/or emergency dispatch”, while our EMD solution (Panic Button) “provides highly-accurate location data.”