Scanning for Safety

One of the world’s deadliest school massacres occurred last month in Parkland, Florida, at Stoneman Douglas High School. In response, students and schools across the country are implementing various safety and security measures, from increasing the number of yearly lockdown practices to arming teachers to purchasing bulletproof backpacks. Yet these measures will only help prepare students to survive the worst-case scenarios; they will not prevent violent shootings from occurring in the first place.

Unfortunately, school violence is on the rise, with 306 shootings having occurred in schools over the past five years, according to a report by Everytown for Gun Safety. Additionally, the New York Police Department reported a 35 percent increase in school weapons arrests this year, with around 700 weapons found in New York schools without metal detectors. Some of these weapons included razor blades, daggers, revolvers, cleavers, and knives.

Schools can strive to provide safety for students by installing metal detectors at their entrances. According to the Department of Education and the Secret Service, 95 percent of attackers perpetrating school shootings are current students in the school. With scanners in place, students would not be allowed to bring dangerous instruments inside the school that could potentially harm or kill others. Metal detectors are very accurate and can detect most types of firearms and knives. These detectors are best at picking up metals with heavier masses, so a few coins would not be enough to set off an alarm.

Metal detectors have already been installed in many public places that attract large groups of people, such as churches and amusement parks. Detectors are now a common form of technology and are seen as helpful, not threatening or invasive, safety features. Public schools should also be held to the same standards. Stuyvesant has over 3,000 students coming in every morning. Though only 91 schools in New York City currently have scanners, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is aiming to install detectors in every school.

Following the Parkland school massacre, de Blasio plans to have temporary metal detectors that occasionally scan selected students. He also supports the right of school officials to request the removal of scanners if their school has a low crime rate.

Instead of dragging portable detectors into our second floor entrance every now and then, detectors should have their permanent spot in as many schools as possible. New York school officials have already found hundreds of weapons in the backpacks of students with the help of metal detectors. These weapons should not have been inside schools, and with metal detectors, the students carrying them would be caught before any incidents occur.

Metal detectors also need to be in working condition every day to best prevent weapons from entering the building. In George Washington High School in New York, for example, a student stabbed his bully 16 times with a steak knife. City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez revealed that the incident occurred because “many [of the school’s metal detectors] are so old that they are not working properly.” It is not enough to place metal detectors in every school; school officials must make sure that they are working and being utilized correctly in order to prevent school violence.

Additionally, for metal detectors to work effectively, every student should have to walk through metal detectors, not just a select few. Black and Hispanic students are three times more likely to be scanned than white students. By requiring every student to walk through detectors, students would not feel discriminated. In Stuyvesant, for example, all students should walk through a detector after swiping into school on the second floor entrance. Having approximately a third of Stuyvesant students come to school during first period, another third during second, and another third during third may help shorten the long lines of students waiting to be scanned.

Students who have been bullied are twice as likely to bring weapons to school than other students, according to a U.S. study. In the case that a student is found in the possession of a less dangerous weapon, security guards working the metal detectors should confiscate it and inform the student’s parents or guardians about the situation. Students bringing in such weapons should also be recommended to programs that can help them communicate and work through the problems or events, such as bullying, with adults to learn how they can cope with or fix their problems. However, security guards should call the police when students bring more dangerous weapons, like guns, to school.

Regarding the Florida school shooting in February, the shooter would have needed to arrive at the front entrance prepared to shoot instead of taking his time in a staircase to load his gun. Entering the school would have set off the alarms of the detectors and would have given him less time to move around the school and cause as many injuries because the security guards would already be aware of the shooter’s presence inside the building.

Every school should do its best to guarantee the safety of its students. Metal detectors, as safety features, can help to ensure a school environment free of weapons. Their widespread implementation in public schools is long overdue.