Posted on 09/09/24
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - Sept. 9, 2024 - Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), the largest school system in the state of Maryland, is now taking a hard look at weapons detectors in schools.
Former Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) Police Chief Marcus Jones, who is now in charge of security and compliance for the school system, said they are in the early stages of looking at different available products.
A 15-year-old was charged last year for bringing a handgun into Richard Montgomery High School. School leaders said weapons detectors could be added in the near future.
In the past week, two students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting at a high school in Georgia, and a student was gunned down at Joppatown High School in Baltimore by a classmate. Last month, school board members voted to purchase and install vape detectors in middle and high schools, and a handful of high schools are requiring students to wear their student IDs all day.
“How could we best utilize that type of equipment? What will be the benefit, how efficient would it be in order for our students to go through this and any other person entering our school in a smooth and traditional way,” said Jones, who was appointed this summer as chief of the Department of Security and Compliance for MCPS.
Some of the hurdles include funding the devices. Prince William County currently pays over $10 million to have them in schools for the next four years. How to get all students into schools on time is another concern, seeing that some schools have thousands of students.
“Basically make sure that we also as we are talking to our community, that we are helping them understand the why, and what are all the aspects involved in it. So that everyone understands the importance of the weapon detections that we’re utilizing that can also apply to identifying vaping instruments that students are bringing into our schools,” Jones said.
Currently, the MCPD has 21 community engagement officers in schools, but unlike SROs, they are not allowed to patrol the hallways.