BERNE — An argument — not a physical fight — on a Berne-Knox-Westerlo school bus was stopped short using a new communications system Monday afternoon, police say. There were no arrests, no injuries, and no weapons.

After a bus driver witnessed two male students arguing and “the threat of potential weapons,” the driver hit a “panic button” that opened up a line of communication to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, said Albany County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Lee Bormann. The bus driver was able to communicate over the radio with a dispatcher at the sheriff’s office who gave instructions to pull over in a nearby parking lot, while another dispatcher sent three sheriff’s deputies to the bus, said Bormann.

One of the deputies was Officer Nathaniel Bray, the resource officer at BKW, said Bormann. He said Bray’s knowledge of the students helped in de-escalating the situation.

“He already knew who he was dealing with,” said Bormann.

No weapons were found on either of the students, who were turned over the school administration, and no charges were pressed, said Bormann. The bus had been returning from another facility to the BKW campus and there were several students and aids present, he said.

The radios were installed over the summer in the BKW school buses as part of a program involving the BKW, Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, and Voorheesville school districts. The three campuses each hired a school resource officer and also installed devices on and off campus to communicate with law enforcement. Bormann said the three districts were chosen because they are in the main patrol zones of the sheriff’s office.

He said that, before the radios were installed, information about an emergency would have to be relayed from the driver, to the bus garage, and then to law enforcement. The direct line has also been able to connect drivers in more remote areas, he said.