Earlier this month, The Rider Online published a news article discussing the increase in sensitivity to the Evolv Security systems MISD implemented across the district. The facts are simple: In an attempt to improve campus security, Mansfield schools will require students to remove any metal items from their bag, place them on a table to the side and step through the metal detector. The Evolv system’s updated sensitivity detects anything containing metal, so students are constantly flagged for the smallest of their bags’ contents. As it stands, the Evolv system is proving inefficient, counterproductive and falsely advertised. Instead, MISD should either consider a more effective security system—one without so many false positives.
Evolv is a company and a security system under fire. Its CEO, Peter George, was recently terminated in the wake of two federal investigations and a class action suit by shareholders alleging Evolv misrepresented its ability to detect weapons. Ambridge Area School District and in Pennsylvania recently implemented the very systems we have in Mansfield, and they’re seeing the same problems. Studies prove Evolv’s failure to detect 42% of knives and a small number of guns. Additionally, the Utica City School System in New York purchased the Evolv system, and the district said it failed to detect a gun and multiple knives. UCSD sued after a student smuggled a hunting knife into the high school and attacked another, stabbing him several times. Not to mention Ambridge and Utica City are but two school districts of—according to Evolv Technology—800-and-counting.
MISD-specific security failures are not to go without mention, though. On Nov. 14, an incident at Timberview High School involving an undetected knife led to two injured students, an arrest and increased security. This altercation took place one day before MISD increased sensitivity in its systems, and yet the precedent has been set.
The Evolv systems are ineffective at best and dangerous at worst. Furthermore, of the, on average, 3,047 daily screenings, 12% are stopped for a bag check. That’s 366 students stopped, and each student’s screening takes roughly two minutes from the original alert to queuing for bag check to being allowed to go to class. The only system keeping that process from taking three hours is Legacy’s multiple entrances, which cuts the average traffic to a cumulative one hour. Students still arrive to class 10, 15 and even 20 minutes late, which risks their attendance and valuable class time.
However, Evolv is not without some success. In spite of its struggles to detect weapons, the metal detectors provide the same service as any other visible security measure: avoidance via presence. When students see the metal detectors and step through them each day, they are provided with a semblance of security. What’s more, in combination with an updated sensitivity, the Evolv systems detect smoking/vaping paraphernalia. Weapon detection is a work in progress, but the connotation of safety is acknowledged. MISD Evolve security system is faulty and replaceable, and district administrators need to reconsider their options to honor students’ class time. There are alternatives to Evolv that are continuing to be produced, and if their court appearances should tell you anything, it’s that those alternatives are looking better and better. There isn’t any one perfect solution to ensuring the safety of students in MISD, but a better-researched, more efficient system is worth considering.
