Latest news with #SilentShield
Time Out
06-05-2025
- Time Out
New York is giving out panic buttons to 500 bodegas
Roughly 500 bodegas across New York City will soon be outfitted with panic buttons, a new safety measure announced by Mayor Eric Adams in response to a string of violent attacks inside corner stores. The $1.6 million initiative will install SilentShield panic buttons in delis across all five boroughs, prioritizing high-crime areas. Once pressed, the button sends an alert directly to the NYPD's central command center—bypassing traditional 911 dispatch delays—and grants officers instant access to live security footage inside the store. 'Instead of just having the cats keeping away the rats, we're going to have a direct connection with the police to keep away those dangerous cats that try to rob our stores,' Adams quipped at a press conference Sunday outside Pamela's Green Deli in the Bronx, per the New York Post. While exact store locations are being kept secret for security reasons, the move comes in the wake of several disturbing bodega incidents: a gang of men impersonating NYPD officers stormed a store in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a knife fight in Inwood left a man dead, and another worker was stabbed six times during an early morning robbery in Harlem. Fernando Mateo, spokesperson for the United Bodegas of America, has been calling for panic button technology for years. 'For so long, we've been asking,' he told the Post. The panic buttons will be installed by SilentShield, and their stealthy deployment adds a strategic layer of uncertainty for would-be criminals. 'No one knows who would actually have a device or not,' Adams told the paper. 'That adds to the omnipresent and the element of surprise that we're looking for.' At Sal's Deli on the Lower East Side, employee Abdul Saleh didn't mince words when speaking to ABC7 about the program: "People get shot, killed—sometimes you get robbed an the police never respond quick, come three or four hours late." Saleh is hopeful that the new buttons will bring swifter justice—and safer shifts. Whether this high-tech measure becomes a game-changer or a flashy Band-Aid remains to be seen. But for the workers behind the counter, it's a start.
CBS News
05-05-2025
- CBS News
NYC to invest in SilentShield panic buttons to protect bodega workers, customers. Here's how the tech works.
Hundreds of bodegas in New York City will soon get a panic button to keep employees and customers safe. On Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams announced $1.6 million will be invested in technology that will give police direct and immediate access to the bodega surveillance video once the button is pushed during a crime. Read more: Video shows suspects disguised as NYPD officers robbing bodega in Brooklyn How SilentShield technology works In a push to keep bodegas safe, the mayor announced the city's intent to use SilentShield technology -- a button that will be installed in the bodega that staff can press. It will call police immediately during an emergency. Back in June 2018, the city was shocked by the murder of 15-year-old Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz. As the teenager sought shelter in a Bronx bodega, he was brutally killed by gang members in a case of mistaken identity. Officials say a panic button could have helped the owner call police faster. "Panic buttons is what's going to save the lives of so many. Not just the lives of bodega owners and workers; the lives of so many that have ran into a bodega seeking safe shelter and they've been killed," said Fernando Mateo of United Bodegas of America. Officials say the buttons will be installed in 500 stores in the city and you won't know which shops have them. Police say once the SilentShield button is pressed it will directly connect police to the store's surveillance. "It gives our responding officers situational awareness to keep them safe. It helps with timely apprehensions and it gives our Detective Squad great tools to catch people after the fact," NYPD Chief of Department John Chell said. United Bodegas of America will be seeking competitive bids for the SilentShield technology and officials say installation is expected in the coming months. Bodega workers, customers welcome the initiative Dario Dominguez told CBS News New York he keeps a close eye on who comes into his Frederick Douglass Boulevard bodega. "When you got outside, you never know what could happen," Dominguez said. Police say a 33-year-old was fatally stabbed just feet away from the front door on Saturday morning. "Very bad. Too much problem, you know?" Dominguez said. "Anything can happen. Somebody is having a bad day, they knock into somebody, and it spills in to a fight," a customer said. "Sure, I would feel more safe," another added.
