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Metal Detectors for Urban Schools: A Benefit?

What is the record for violence prevention for urban schools with metal detectors in place?

This long story 100,000 NYC School Children Face Airport-Style Security Screening Every Day lays out primarily the cons of having metal detectors in urban school settings, with the story focusing on some 200-plus New York City schools. Certainly having to wait in line for an hour every day to go through a screening portal would be a detriment to the educational setting in general.

The one thing I'd point out is that when you look at mass school shootings of the past, they are happening in rural and suburban, sometimes affluent areas of the nation; and I don't recall one of those schools having a building entry screening process in place. 

Like everything else, it requires balancing security with the mission of the institution. Here in King County, Wash., there were calls for more security at the King County Courthouse. It took two deaths from one shooting incident to put the screening process in place. Now 20 years later that screening process remains in place.

I don't have easy answers.

 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.
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