PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — In April, Pinellas County Schools implemented a new pilot program to explore the latest technology for detecting weapons.
On May 13, the district informed Tampa Bay 28 it will not move forward with the weapons detection systems in schools.
In a statement, the district said: "We will continue the pilot portion, testing the systems at athletics events and a school board meeting in the next few weeks."
The program was described as a non-invasive screening tool, essentially a version of a metal detector —though more high-tech—combining sensor technology and artificial intelligence to detect concealed weapons.
The pilot program was implemented at two high schools to test the equipment— Gibbs High School and Palm Harbor University High School.
After training staff, it was deployed on April 7 and was supposed to last until the end of the school year.
Leaders decided to cut it short and end the pilot program after only 10 days, following feedback from students and parents that lines were too long and there were too many false alarms.
These issues were especially prevalent at Palm Harbor University High School.
According to information that will be discussed at Tuesday’s workshop, the district cites that the pilot program showed a need for more trained staff to efficiently run the system, the technology’s sensitivity had to be adjusted, and there were student flow issues with long lines.
At this point, leaders are not considering a large-scale deployment of this system and will consider purchasing two units to deploy randomly as needed.
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