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Security Failure Prompts AI Weapon Screeners at Baton Rouge Schools

East Baton Rouge Public Schools is testing AI-powered screeners at four high schools, along with other policy changes, after a student smuggled a firearm past manned metal detectors.

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(TNS) — After a student at Woodlawn High recently slipped a loaded firearm past a manned metal detector, East Baton Rouge Parish public school leaders are turning to artificial intelligence to tighten security so students can't breach campus buildings with dangerous weapons.

Superintendent LaMont Cole is going to give the technology a tryout at four high schools, but is paying special attention to Woodlawn, the largest nonselective high school in the East Baton Rouge school system. The other high schools slated to get the new screeners in February are Belaire, McKinley and Scotlandville. The devices would replace some, but not all, of the metal detectors the schools are using.

The new AI screeners are part of a larger set of changes Cole is making to upgrade school security. They include: cracking down on schools not properly using walk-through metal detectors; upgrading and repairing entry doors at schools, adding security cameras to eliminate blind spots; and potentially outsourcing weapons detection duties entirely. Also, central office staff will start helping individual schools short on people to handle the walk-through metal detectors.

Although the use of AI to bolster school security is becoming more common, it also has detractors. Evolv Express, a suburban Boston company that makes the new screeners East Baton Rouge schools are buying, has been criticized for situations in which its equipment failed to detect weapons when set at the most commonly used sensitivity levels. The screeners sometimes flagged as threats everyday items such as three-ring binders and computer laptops.

The School Board agreed Thursday to buy four of Evolv's AI scanners for $334,708 over four years. That is about $21,000 per device a year. The money is coming from the district's security budget.

"We have to think about making a different level of investment in terms of how we keep our kids safe," Cole told the school board.

TAKING IMAGES OF STUDENTS


Evolv's screening system consists of a transmission and a receiving "tower." Standing just over 6 feet tall, they are set apart from each other, typically in the entryway to a building. In a school, students walk through a 40-inch gap between the towers before they can proceed to class.

As they walk through, low-frequency radio waves are beamed at the students and then turned into images. The images are analyzed using artificial intelligence to identify potential weapons students might be concealing under their clothes.

Although there are a variety of concealed weapon detectors on the market, Evolv's security equipment is one of the bestsellers. The company says more than 6,000 people a day walk through one of its AI scanners. They are installed at sports venues, hospitals, concert halls, theme parks and offices, and they are used in more than 120,000 schools. In Louisiana, Lafourche Parish schools recently acquired Evolv screeners.

In a short presentation to East Baton Rouge school board members Thursday, Michael Gros, an Evolv representative, said the tower screeners are easier to use than metal detectors.

"Our system is ease of flow. You can move a lot of people in. It's very efficient and very easy to train on," Gros said.

WISE PURCHASE OR KNEE-JERK REACTION?


Board member Patrick Martin V supported the purchase but told Cole he was concerned about the speed and timing of buying the AI screeners.

"Many times in the two years I've been on the board, we've had a security incident and we've had a knee-jerk reaction to it that always involved spending money when, as you point out, a lot of our challenges don't involve spending money to buy things, but to use the resources we have more effectively," Martin said.

Cole told Martin the security equipment acquisition has been under discussion for months.

"Our conversation around Evolv started last semester, long before we had an incident this semester," Cole said.

Rodney Walker and Dionne Chaney, the district's directors of security, began researching Evolv's security products even before Cole took over as superintendent in August. Chaney last year visited a school in Baltimore that used Evolv screeners.

Cole said the Woodlawn High security breach did heighten his sense of urgency. He asked the board to act quickly, so the devices can be installed at the four high school campuses where they will be tested. He reminded board members he initially opted to buy a few AI screeners to ensure they work well.

"We didn't want to just wholesale purchase for every school without understanding whether the technology works," the superintendent said.

The school system is buying the AI-powered devices through the Maryland -based Alliance Technology Group, which sells Evolv's products. In the first year, East Baton Rouge school district is spending $102,000 of the nearly $335,000 total cost. It will continue to pay $77,549 annually for software and annual maintenance for three more years. According to Alliance, that is about $180,000 less than the list price for the devices.

Greg Phares, a veteran law enforcement officer in Baton Rouge turned security consultant, said AI-based weapons detection devices show promise. They are worth Baton Rouge schools testing them to improve school security, he said.

"I'm somewhat familiar with the system from working with hospitals," Phares said. "I think the tech is very promising, but it is only part of an overall security plan. I applaud the school system for exploring this."

FOCUSED ON WEAPONS


When someone walks through an Evolv AI screener, at least one staff member will watch a mobile tablet for a "red box" indicating a potential threat. The box is located at the spot on an individual being screened where a potential threat has been detected. Also, students flagged will have their bags checked.

Evolv officials say the AI system won't be tripped up by safe items that can set off metal detectors.

"Evolv Express uses artificial intelligence and sensor technology to instantly distinguish a phone or personal item from a potential weapon or component of a weapon," according to the company's product materials. "Unlike a metal detector, Evolv Express is not looking for metal, but rather, for weapons and parts of weapons only."

Some items, however, can trigger errors with Evolv scanners. According to news reports, schools in places like Charlotte, North Carolina, had trouble at first with false positives, what Evolv officials call "nuisance items" getting flagged, and slowing down the entry process.

Some schools responded by lowering sensitivity levels on the AI devices. In October 2022, that led to a tragic result in Utica, New York. A student carrying a knife that an Evolv scanner did not catch later repeatedly stabbed another student in the hands and back.

The company these days urges students to carry "nuisance items" in front of them when getting screened. Chaney, an East Baton Rouge district security director, said when she visited the Baltimore school, students carried these items, such as laptops and umbrellas the AI screener tends to flag erroneously as a threat.

Speed is a big selling point for Evolv. The company claims a single-lane screener like the one East Baton Rouge is buying can screen as many as 500 students in 15 minutes. That works out to two people every second.

Walker, an East Baton Rouge school security director, said as many as five people may need to be on hand to properly manage the AI scanning, yet Evolv devices should significantly quicken weapon screening.

Unlike some other security devices, Evolv does not attempt facial recognition or collect personally identifiable data of any students. "The system evaluates the items passing through, not the people, to determine if there may be a threat," according to the company's materials.

Cole said he is studying how big-city school districts use metal detectors. He said they often hire special security staff with law enforcement training, a big expense, to administer the devices.

For the past year, Woodlawn High, along with every other middle and high school in the East Baton Rouge system, has been using metal detectors that all students are supposed to walk through. The district bought them with a $518,000 federal school safety grant awarded after the May 2022 mass fatal shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The new metal detectors are popular with many students and school employees, but they have proven to be a challenge for schools to manage with their staffs.

'WE HAVE TO OWN IT'


On Jan. 16, a 15-year-old Woodlawn High student was found on campus carrying a loaded gun, even though he had walked past the metal detector. He was found with the gun thanks to a student's tip. After detaining the student, law enforcement put Woodlawn High on lockdown for two hours, while they conducted a precautionary search of the campus and declared it safe.

Earlier this school year, another Woodlawn High student brought a BB gun to school that looked like a normal firearm. That student also managed to evade detection by the metal detector.

The day after the student with the loaded gun was arrested, school district security staff walked through the high school with Principal John Jenkins and identified problems with various entry doors, as well as blind spots on campus that lacked cameras.

Each morning, Woodlawn students enter the school after being checked by metal detectors. There's walk-through detectors at the bus drop-off, and another set at the gym, the spot where those driving to school enter the building.

On Monday, Jan. 27, as students returned after a week off during the snowstorm, they were all handed transparent mesh backpacks the school bought to make it easier to check student bags. On Friday, local law enforcement randomly visited classrooms looking for drugs, finding a few students with vapes.

Overall, Cole said students throughout the East Baton Rouge school district have brought 11 guns, including the BB gun, to campuses so far this school year, which began in August. Of those 11 guns, five were found after school hours on campus parking lots. Only the two guns at Woodlawn High slipped past metal detectors, he said.

"We did have a lapse," the superintendent said. "We have to own it. We have to acknowledge it. We can't make any excuses."

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