Sarah Jacobson
As our population has increased over the years, unfortunately, so have crimes and threats of violence. Safety and security have been a growing issue in our schools recently. Multiple measures have been put in place, such as the new rule of wearing ID badges that took place in December. Now, yet another measure has been put into place. Each person that walks through the door to Central high school has to walk through a metal detector with their Chromebooks in hand, and if a metal object is detected, they will need to have their bag searched. This new measure is being used in an effort to greatly reduce violence, as guns and weapons would be detected.
A very obvious benefit of metal detectors in schools is the immediate detection of weapons as students and visitors enter the building. In fact, in schools that use detectors, numerous students and guests have been stopped with guns and knives. In New York City schools, there was a dramatic increase in weapon confiscations every school year, and over half of those weapons were found because of metal detectors (besafe.net). Also, according to WCIA News, Centennial High School started using metal detectors and wanding in late September, due to the ongoing violence issues that went on there during the first two months of the school year. Although metal detectors can help with violence and security issues such as this, they are just one small piece of the puzzle, and at the end of the day, they are not worth all the work and time of adding them to schools.
First of all, metal detectors are not very cost-effective. They require training and equipment maintenance, and the price of metal detectors can be up to tens of thousands of dollars. Detectors are also self-operating, which means that any metal object can set off the alarm (not just weapons), causing lines and chaos as a result of people having to have their bags searched. A better security measure could be random screenings, where students are randomly selected by class for screening using hand-held wands. This would be a lot less time-consuming and therefore could create less chaos among students and staff. Searches with wands are also known to be a lot more effective, as metal detectors can often fail at detecting.
For many students, the presence of metal detectors can almost make them feel less safe in it can make them feel as though they are attending school inside of a prison, or that their educators perceive them as a threat. Students not feeling safe in school can lead to social, academic, and personal health being compromised. Metal detectors are also only at two doors of the building, which means that someone could easily bypass them. It would cost even more to put metal detectors at every door, which is why metal detectors do not necessarily mean that weapons are not getting into schools. Let alone, violence also occurs outside of school buildings, where metal detectors are not present, and therefore cannot prevent it. Yes, they do show a visible response to these issues among many people, but it is not a catch-all solution to a growing problem.
Overall, there is little evidence that metal detectors reduce school violence. Despite being caught by detectors, people can still find ways to bring weapons into schools, and these practices do nothing about the social and psychological issues of children. Unfortunately, studies show that school shootings still occur even with metal detectors. According to the Washington Post, multiple shooters have just shot their way through metal detectors, and there are multiple doors in the building in which the detectors are not present. In New Haven, several schools that shut down for gun threats already had detectors in place, which proves their inability to prevent violence issues.
Violence needs to be put to a stop. In the end, metal detectors are not the answer.