PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Houses of worship across Palm Beach County will have a new security tool starting tomorrow — an instant alert system that notifies faith leaders the moment one of 40 different crimes is reported within a half mile of their location.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office House of Worship (HOW) initiative is designed to give churches, synagogues, mosques and other faith communities an early warning when danger is nearby. 140 local houses of worship gathered to learn about the new system.
WATCH: New alert system protecting Palm Beach County houses of worship
"We wanted to protect our houses of worship, so we're offering that to all of our houses of worship in Palm Beach County, in our jurisdiction, there's about 300 of them," Kevin Stanfield of PBSO Business Partners Against Terrorism said.
The system operates on three tiers, with escalating alerts that tell faith leaders exactly how much danger is nearby — ranging from a burglary to an active shooter.
"There's a man with a gun. It'll show you a little map. It shows you where the incident's occurring. So that way, if you're in church service, you could go ahead, you can lock the doors, you can respond," Stanfield said.
"The alert system is going to be a game-changer. Make people feel more secure that they know that if there's anything going on, they'll be the first to know about it," said Rabbi Zeev Saunders of Delray Torah Center.
The reach of the program could extend beyond Palm Beach County. Legislation, if passed, would require every law enforcement agency in the state to send similar notifications to schools and daycare facilities within three miles of a shooting.
At the HOW training event, representatives from the Broward County Sheriff's Office attended, looking to duplicate the system in their county. School district police representatives were also in the room, taking notes on a potential partnership with PBSO to bring alert notifications to public schools.
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