AI-powered weapons detection system keeping students safe at Gwinnett County schools
It's been just over a year since two teachers and two students were killed and nine others were hurt during a shooting at Winder's Apalachee High School, adding urgency to a conversation about security already underway across metro Atlanta.
In Gwinnett County, the school district recently started installing weapon detection systems at its high schools. Officials plan to have the systems in place at all of the district's middle and high schools by the end of March.
The Evolv weapons detection system uses low-frequency electromagnetic fields and advanced software to detect concealed weapons.
Gwinnett County officials say the system can distinguish between dangerous items and everyday items like phones and keys, reducing delays and the need for additional screenings.
Peachtree Ridge High School sophomore Abigail Popoola remembers the first time she and thousands of other students across the county tried out the new system.
"I remember walking past and being like, 'Oh, they've got these. We're actually going to use them,'" Popoola recalled.
For Popoola and her classmates, it's like going through airport security without the long wait times.
"They'll put their bags on here, and this will scan it, and they'll just walk right through here," Lt. David Sokol explained. "They'll go through, and you can hear the little buzzer go off. The bag will go through. If it scans, this whole thing will turn a different color, and it'll stop. The scanner will pick up their bag and send them to a secondary screener, but if it doesn't, they'll just grab their bag and they're off."
School administrators and resource officers monitor students as they pass through the system. Students who refuse to be screened are turned away.
Sokol has been with the Gwinnett County Schools Police Department for 13 years. He says the department wants to try new things to ensure the safety of the district's students.
"It's an ongoing responsibility," he said. "We never stop. We're constantly trying to find new ways to keep kids safe, and we're always thinking about it."
The district is spending about $20 million to install Evolv at its schools.
"We have not had a threat from a weapons standpoint as far as Evolv," Peachtree Ridge principal Jadd Jarusinki said. "We have had cologne bottles, those seem to be very popular in setting them off—really anything that's metal and long: three-ring binders, eyeglass cases."
Those extra alerts are a reassurance to Popoola.
"It actually made me feel a bit better about the system because, if the metal in my binder made it go off, what more the metal in something dangerous will go off," she said.
Gwinnett County isn't the only school district in metro Atlanta that uses the system to help its students feel safer. The Atlanta Public Schools System, Clayton County, and Fayette County all use Evolv in some form.