New York City has partnered with SOS Technologies, a company in life safety and emergency communication solutions, to deploy its “Emergency Alert System” (EAS) to help protect NYC public schools experiencing an active safety threat. This system enables direct, instant communication between schools and first responders, with the goal of slashing notification times from minutes to under 10 seconds.

The new EAS, created in partnership with the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), debuted at the Spring Creek campus in Brooklyn and is scheduled to be rolled out to a total of 25 school buildings, representing 51 public schools across the five boroughs during the 2025 – 2026 school year.

This initiative establishes a direct link with first responders, enabling immediate notification to NYPD, FDNY and EMS.

“New York City is setting a new national standard for school safety,” said Travis Leonardi, chairman and CEO, SOS Technologies. “For the first time ever, public schools are directly tied into a city’s 911 first responder life-safety communications infrastructure. This groundbreaking integration eliminates costly delays, giving police, fire and EMS the ability to begin responding almost instantly when seconds matter most. We are honored to be a part of the technology which helps safeguard the lives NYC students and educators.”

The NYC EAS platform communicates with agencies like NYC Public Schools, NYPD, PSAC 911 and FDNY, helping to accelerate emergency notification and ensuring that calls for help are instantly prioritized and geo-located.

“From day one, our mission has been to help improve life safety systems through innovative technologies,” said Paul Averill, president and chief operating officer, SOS Technologies. “By directly linking New York City Public Schools to the city’s first responder communication infrastructure, we’re closing a critical gap in emergency notification and response times. With the announcement of this important NYC initiative, we are optimistic that other cities across the country will adopt these technologies to help revolutionize communication between public and private institutions and first responders.”