Women At Risk Of Beatings Get Alarms

Pocket-size alarms that can summon police at the press of a button were handed out free Wednesday to a dozen women who are at high risk of being beaten by husbands or boyfriends.

The subject has personal meaning for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, who asked to have the technology tried out in his borough.

He said that every night when he was 14, he and his mother and grandfather “would barricade the three entrances to our home because of the enormous fear we had that my father would break in and hurt my mother.”

The personal alarms, about the size of a silver-dollar, are activated by pressing a button, and can be mounted on a wall panel or worn on a necklace. A silent signal is transmitted to a private security company monitoring center.

Many of the women given alarms Wednesday have been hospitalized as a result of abuse, while some are under death threats and all have restraining orders that make it illegal for their abusers to approach them.