The Evolv weapon detectors that began operations on April 1 at Kingwood Park sadly, weren’t an April Fools’ joke. Evolv’s detectors use AI to differentiate between potentially harmful items and harmless objects like phones and keys.
The scanner has many false alarms; it detects everyday items like metal water bottles, laptops, umbrellas, and even 3-ring binders, which the school tells you to purchase and bring with you before the school year begins. I mean, who doesn’t like feeling like you’re going through TSA when you’re just trying to get into school? These common false alarms were stated in an email sent out to parents and students on March 19 from principal Wes Solomon regarding the installation of Evolv weapon detectors.
However, these false alarms shouldn’t be that surprising because, according to an investigation against Evolv by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), Evolv’s scanners have a 50% false positive rate. And with Evolv making statements like “…some knives will be missed, more false alarms will occur, and additional staffing may be required to run the machines.”
If Humble ISD wanted to increase the school’s security, they could’ve instead hired more SROs (School Resource Officers). According to ZipRecruiter, an SRO’s average salary is around $68,719 a year, which is roughly $33 an hour. Weapon detectors don’t do anything on their own other than make a noise when they detect something (thus the false sense of security).
The weapon detectors have to rely on SROs to remove potential threats, while SROs don’t have to rely on anything to do their job. However, if they hire too many SROs, it could lead to complaints that the school is more similar to a prison than a place for education.
This attempt at “…ensuring a safe and secure environment…” seems to be unwarranted since threats or anything of the sort that would prompt the district to enact such policies and procedures aren’t a regular occurrence here at Kingwood Park High School.
One of the issues I have with the weapon detectors that have been installed is that the money spent on them could have been spent on useful things. For example, some of the school’s Chromebooks have terrible performance and struggle after having more than a handful of tabs open. As someone who has to sort through thousands of photos often, I can’t even begin to make a dent in my photography work with the free time I have in certain classes that only have older Chromebooks.
The money spent on weapon detectors should’ve been redirected and spent on actual issues that students face and to better the school’s fine arts departments. For example, the marching band needs more trucks to haul their equipment; the theater department could use more licenses for plays and musicals, as well as more props and set pieces.
With all of this considered, I can’t help but believe that this was only done to improve the district’s public image rather than to create a safer environment.
