Two Seattle Schools to Test New Weapons Detectors

When my son started high school, taking him on the first day and seeing the metal detectors he’d have to walk through each day was a stark reminder of how schools can be a lot more violent than they were back in my day.

They never had an incident, but I’m sure it was on everyone’s mind as they lined up to go through the detector. After all, they had plenty of time to think about it since hundreds of students had to go through the detector one at a time.

But a couple of Seattle high schools will be the first there to test a new system that’s a bit less obtrusive.

Two Seattle high schools will install weapons detectors on their campuses, following a unanimous vote by the Seattle Public Schools board of directors Wednesday evening.

The schools – Rainier Beach High School and Nathan Hale High School – will be the first to launch their pilot programs in the district. Both schools initially reached out to the district to communicate their interest in a pilot, according to Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Ben Shuldiner.

“The two schools that asked for the pilot, they’re gonna kinda build around what they think success looks like,” Shuldiner said before the vote. “But it is again our hope in the next couple months to really get it up and running.”

The pilot programs won’t be the first time the district has used weapons detectors – they’ve been used at graduation ceremonies and school sporting events.

Shuldiner narrated over a video of community members walking through the OPENGATE weapons detectors the district has used at those events. The system uses two freestanding pillars, and are similar to the weapons detectors you might see at outside a professional sports game.

“It can really go through hundreds and hundreds of folks very quickly,” Shuldiner said.

My understanding is that the system uses electromagnetic signatures of various materials to sort of scan what’s in a backpack based on shape and material. Non-metallic things are obviously not an issue, while metallic ones that don’t correspond to a firearm get a pass. Anything gun-shaped gets checked out.

And, as noted, it does it quickly enough that you don’t end up with a bottleneck at the doors, which is where I’d be the most nervous. Especially since we live in an age when people born here in the U.S. will see us as “The Great Satan” for tolerating their existence and might look at that mass like a predator.

If students can flow in and out like many of us did back in the day, but do it safely in the current environment, that’s a win across the board. 

Or is it?

See, the unfortunate thing is that this system uses AI filtering, and we’ve seen that AI has some profound issues when it comes to what is a gun and what isn’t.

Here’s hoping some kid doesn’t get gang-tackled by the faculty because he has a bag of Doritos.

Of course, AI filtering and an AI-based system are different, so it’s entirely possible this system will work flawlessly.

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