A panic or duress button lets a person — a front-desk employee, a leasing agent, or an officer — send a silent alert to a monitoring center or dispatcher without alerting whoever is nearby, which matters in a robbery or hostage-style situation where an audible alarm could escalate danger. Fixed units are mounted under a desk; wearable versions clip to a lanyard or belt for mobile staff.
On a real property, placement and staff training determine whether the button is useful under stress — a button hidden too well may be hard to find quickly, while one placed too visibly can be pressed accidentally or discovered by the wrong person. Wireless wearable units depend on battery charge and signal range back to a base station.
False activations from accidental presses are common and should be treated seriously rather than dismissed, since a security team that starts ignoring duress signals risks missing a real emergency. Some jurisdictions and insurers expect a documented testing schedule for these devices.
In a patrol program, a duress signal is typically the highest-priority dispatch a monitoring center sends, directing the nearest officer to respond immediately while police are notified in parallel, and the response and outcome are logged in the incident report.
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General industry and regulatory usage — not legal advice, and not an endorsement by BSIS, the Department of Consumer Affairs, or any law-enforcement agency. Statutes, regulations, and local ordinances change; verify current text at the official government source or with your attorney.