LANSING (WKZO) — No vote was taken, but the House Communications and Technology Committee has heard testimony supporting the creation of an active shooter alert system in the State of Michigan.
If approved it would perform like an Amber Alert, using cell phones and media notifications to alert people that there is an active shooter in the community or a terrorist threat.
It follows community concern in Kalamazoo about the lack of information available on the night that police say Jason Dalton went on his shooting spree in Kalamazoo.
Co-sponsor Brandt Iden says he heard from a number of people who wished they had known what was going on that night.
Iden and John Hoadley have teamed up to propose a couple of bills that would set up the alert system and to make it a felony to trigger a false threat. It would be managed by State Police and send out mass alerts when certain criteria is met.
Laurie Smith and her daughter Emily testified that if the system had been up and running on the night of February 20th, then Richard and Tyler Smith would be alive today, and would not have been out looking at pick-up trucks when they were killed at the Kia Dealership on Stadium Drive.
The committee also heard from Sheriff Richard Fuller, Prosecutor Jeff Getting, Iden and Hoadley, and a State Police representative, all in support of the legislation.
The legislators are hoping for a committee vote next week and final House passage by this summer.
