Florida to launch new school safety app

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) – Florida will soon launch a new app that will allow people to anonymously report suspicious activity in the state’s schools.

Damien Kelly, the executive director of the state’s newly created Office of Safe Schools, said Wednesday that authorities expect to launch the FortifyFL app within the next two weeks. State legislators this past spring set aside $400,000 to develop the app in the aftermath of a mass shooting where 17 students and faculty were killed.

Kelly told the State Board of Education that the app will be designed to send information to threat assessment teams including the school resource officer assigned to individual schools. But Kelly also added that some tips would go directly to 911, such as if someone saw a student placing a gun in a backpack.