Schools across the states are installing weapon detection systems for the safety of their students and staff. However, there’s a difference between metal detectors and weapon detectors. In the past decade, school shootings have increased by a significant amount. Schools have been getting many shooting threats, causing them to wonder, ‘How can I protect these students?’

Why are Johnston County schools installing new weapon detectors?

According to WRAL, Johnston County’s school district has invested over five million dollars into installing weapon detectors in 48 schools. A few weeks ago, Cleveland High School had a scare on campus where a student had a gun in their car. Thank God it didn’t leave their car and that nobody was hurt, but this led to parents becoming very worried about their children’s safety at school.

Johnston County district purchases weapon detectors from the famous company, Evolv. Evolv uses radio frequency sensors along with artificial intelligence. The district decided that Evolv will be placed at the front entrance; Meanwhile, another system known as ‘OpenGate’ will be placed at all the secondary entrances. 

Cleveland High School plans on using the new weapon detection system starting on March 17th. Early in the morning, each student will have to personally take out their laptops or anything that could trigger the device to go off before they walk through it. Due to the school having over a thousand students, many believe that this will increase the tardy situation- that is, the fact that a lot of students have not been getting to class within the five minutes given to us. This should be a move in the right direction of protecting all students. It may take time to get used to and students may not like it, but it is there to protect everyone. Anil Chitkara, co-founder of the company Johnston County is getting the weapon detectors from -Evolv- once stated, “Balancing the experience and the ability to walk through at the pace of life with a high level of detection was the formula that we needed.”