Weapon detector use on rise in U.S. schools

Although most incidents don’t end with a shooting, more students nationwide have been showing up to school with guns since returning after the pandemic. Fears about school safety are on the rise among students, parents and educators.

Since the January shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., at least 10 Virginia school districts have turned to scanners, most using artificial intelligence, to flag weapons at school entrances. Across the country, more schools are installing the weapons detectors, often spending millions to ease concerns and fortify their buildings.

Hopes are that the equipment prevents another tragedy. But skeptics question the scanners’ effectiveness and say they are “security theater” that provides a false sense of safety.

While it’s highly unlikely that most students will experience a school shooting, gun violence nationally is on the rise. According to a Washington Post analysis, the country averaged about 11 school shootings per year through 2017. Starting in 2018, violent incidents began climbing and, in 2022, there were more school shootings — 46 — than in any year since at least 1999.

Evolv, the leading weapons detection technology in schools, markets “noninvasive” systems that can scan thousands of people an hour. Unlike a traditional metal detector, Ev0lv equipment uses AI to identify weapons. The machines use “active sensing” — a light-emission technique that also underpins radar and lidar — to create images that are then compared with the shapes of weapons the AI recognizes. Company officials say the result is a streamlined search that doesn’t require kids to empty pockets or backpacks.

“It’s really fitting into this space in schools where they really want to do something that protects their buildings and keeps them safer,” Evolv’s director of education, Jill Lemond, said. “But at the same time, they don’t want to change the culture and the climate and the welcoming environment.”

When the system identifies a suspicious item, it draws an orange box around it on a live video feed, allowing security personnel watching on a tablet to conduct further screening. The systems are being used across the country in large sports arenas, stadiums and other venues. The company pivoted to schools in 2021 when reports of weapons there began to rise.

Lemond said Evolv’s technology is in more than 450 schools nationwide. This year, the company has signed contracts with Atlanta Public Schools and two systems in Virginia: Prince William County Public Schools, the state’s second-largest, and Alexandria City Public Schools, which launched a pilot of the detectors last month, causing delays to the start of the school day.

At least 14 of Virginia’s 132 school districts use or have plans to implement the AI detection technology. At least another seven have used traditional metal scanners in some capacity. Most use scanners only in middle and high schools, where students are more likely to bring weapons, but the Richneck shooting raised the possibility of more installations in elementary schools.

Nationally, at least 14% of high schools, 7% of middle schools and 3% of elementary schools use metal detectors, according to data from a November survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education.

Last month, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, announced a $16.4 million competitive grant program to improve security infrastructure in high-need school divisions — including purchasing advanced security equipment and systems.

“The events of the school year now coming to a close remind us that we need to do more to protect our students and the educators to work everyday to prepare them for success,” Youngkin said in a statement.