CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A proposal to install and test a weapons detection system at a local high school this fall received support from several commissioners during the informal Montgomery County Commission meeting this week.

Sheriff John Fuson spoke on the matter Monday after getting back from his trip to Champaign, Illinois, where he saw the Evolv Express system in use at a high school first-hand. Fuson said the weapons detection system is working just as expected.

Fuson and other county officials inspected the system in use at the Champaign high school. One system is used at the entrance for bus riders and the other is used for the rest of the student population.

Fuson described their process as “seamless” once students entered the building from their designated areas. He said that, at-most, it took 30 minutes for all students to enter the building.

In addition to weapons, including pocket knives and shell casings, the system can be programmed to pick up vapes, Fuson said previously.

The school district in Illinois has their staff manage the system. At CMCSS, a School Resource Officer would monitor the technology.

Commissioners in support of technology

County Commissioner Jason Knight thanked Fuson for being proactive, and noted that he himself has proposed metal detectors in county schools for years.

He said that even with the technology being different, the idea remains the same, and that is to safeguard and secure county schools. Knight said one cannot put a price tag on the safety of children.

Commissioners David Shelton and Lisa Prichard also spoke in support of the weapons detection system.

“This is the kind of proactive approach and thinking I believe that the government and this body needs to continue,” Shelton said. “So, I’m very excited about seeing a solution before a problem. This is the kind of solution we really don’t want a problem in the first place.”

Prichard complimented the Evolv Express software and called the system “unintrusive.” She is also looking forward to having the systems in every Clarksville-Montgomery County school.

Where will the system be placed?

For the beta test, Fuson said it would make the most sense to start with high schools to see what kind of logistics are needed to implement the technology system-wide.

He added that the sheriff’s department and the school system have considered several options for a location, including Northwest High. Northwest is being considered first because it’s the only school with only one entrance for students.

Commissioner Jeremiah Walker asked Fuson if the sheriff’s department has thought about testing the system at another school with more than one entrance.

Fuson said they have had those conversations internally. Since the system is durable, he said they could always move it to another school to study how logistics may change. That conversation will continue leading up to the 2023-24 school year.

“A lot of communication will be going out once we’ve made some decisions about how this will be rolled out,” Fuson said. “Because we do want this to be successful. And it won’t be successful if we start it out wrong. We certainly want to make sure we communicate well, not only with our internal stakeholders, but with the parents whose children go to these schools.”

Concerns about enforcement, privacy

Commissioner Rashidah Leverett had several questions that she received from constituents. The first being, if something against policy is found on a student, what happens next?

“Once we run into something that comes through that is not allowed or illegal and a law has been violated, of course we’ll handle that accordingly,” Fuson said. “If it’s a school violation for something they bring into school that shouldn’t be brought in, that’s something the school district will handle. If it’s a weapon or something they shouldn’t have in their possession in the school building, then of course that’s something we’ll take care of.”

Leverett asked if a student is being patted down, would it be done by a School Resource Officer, a teacher or someone else?

Fuson said that since the SRO would manage the system, the SRO would conduct the secondary search, but that could be revisited.

Leverett also asked about the storage of facial images of students within the system.

“All of those images are protected under FERPA,” Fuson said. “So, those images will stay on school property. Of course, any legal reason we would need to use that we would. If not, there would be policies written about those being purged and deleted. That would speak to the contents, any photographs, anything to do inside the school property with students is all protected.”

Evolv Technolgies

The weapons detection system, Evolv Express, comes from Evolv Technolgies. According to Fuson, there are several models to the technology, but the model they would pursue would be “dual lane.” The dual lane model expands to about 24 feet of open space for students to walk through, and it has the capacity to read up to 4,100 people per hour.

According to their website, Evolv Express is designed to “accelerate physical security screening while maintaining the highest degree of weapons detection accuracy. It eliminates the friction that visitors, fans, patrons, employees and students typically experience moving through security by screening them in a touchless manner. This helps reduce the security risk of crowded security lines. It also drastically reduces false alarm rates and human errors by security guards.”

Other systems are also being considered.

The County Commission will be asked to approve funding for the system on Monday. It would cost around $230,000 for one dual lane unit, but the expenses would be covered by funds that weren’t used in another previously approved Sheriff’s Office project.

If purchased, the technology would be covered for four years, and the company would perform maintenance updates when needed. After four years, the county could then extend the contract.