Columbus City Schools spending over $3M to lease weapons detection systems at high schools

Megan Henry, The Columbus Dispatch
·4 min read
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Columbus City Schools is spending more than $3 million to lease 20 Evolv Express advanced weapons detection systems to have one in all of its high schools under a four-year agreement.

Unlike standard metal detectors, the Evolv system features artificial intelligence and advanced sensor technology that uses extremely low frequency radio waves (ELF) to induce magnetization in metal objects passing through, allowing it to distinguish weapon threats such as guns, knives and metal improvised explosive devices from laptops, cellphones, keys and other personal items, according to Massachusetts-based Evolv's website.

The touchless system doesn't involve wands and can screen some 4,000 people an hour walking at a natural pace through a device that looks similar to electronic theft prevention devices at the doorways of retail stores.

Columbus City Schools is spending more than $3 million to lease 20 Evolv Express advanced weapons detection systems to have one in all of its high schools under a four-year lease agreement. A demonstration of the new system was given to the media Friday at East High School.
Columbus City Schools is spending more than $3 million to lease 20 Evolv Express advanced weapons detection systems to have one in all of its high schools under a four-year lease agreement. A demonstration of the new system was given to the media Friday at East High School.

A demonstration of the Evolv technology

“We are really focusing on significantly enhancing our safety and security measures across the district,” said Chris Baker, Columbus City Schools safety and security director. “The goal is that this will help deter behaviors around our people who think that they can just bring items in.”

The Evolv systems will be installed this weekend and will go live in high schools in the next couple of weeks, Baker said at a media event held by the district Friday afternoon at East High School to show off the new detectors.

“We are excited today to be able to have the new technology for our schools to help us eliminate and reduce the items that are being brought into our schools that are dangerous," Baker said. "We are able to utilize this system to reduce those things that will cause mass harm, weapons, guns and things that have been reported in our schools."

The Evolv systems also will be used at athletic events, including football games, Baker said.

“The way the world is today, the communities that are around our schools, the state of Ohio, the nation, we have to be prepared,” Baker said. “We do not want to be reactive. We need to be proactive and put all measures in place to ensure a safe learning environment for our children and our staff.”

Columbus City Schools Board of Education voted in December to approve a 48-month lease with ByteSpeed, a computer hardware manufacturer in Moorhead, Minnesota that is reselling the Evolv technology to the district. The district is paying for the $3,002,362 cost from its federal elementary and secondary schools emergency COVID relief funds, according to board agenda documents that included a contract with ByteSpeed.

The contract does not specify how much the district is spending to lease each of the 20 units or for the software licensing, and Baker said Friday he did not know those costs.

Through the lease, Evolv provides the hardware, software, installation, service and ongoing updates, said Anil Chitkara, cofounder of Evolv Technology, who attended the media event.

The new advanced weapons detection systems "will increase the safety of the learning environment, as well as provide another barrier that will deter the attempt to enter the schools with unauthorized unsafe items," according to board agenda documents.

Columbus City Schools' press event came a day after a gun was recovered from a student Thursday at the district's Eastmoor Academy, also located on the East Side. The Evolv detection system is not in place there yet.

Columbus police responded around 11:37 a.m. Thursday to Eastmoor Academy. Security and staff had initially detained the male student, but he escaped and fled custody. Police said he left his backpack behind, which contained a loaded Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol with a round in the chamber and a loaded magazine. The gun was found to be reported stolen out of Martin County, Florida, police said.

Police reported they later searched the students' home, but he was not found. Police issued warrants for his arrest.

Columbus City Schools is spending more than $3 million to lease 20 Evolv Express advanced weapons detection systems to have one in installed in all of its high schools in the coming weeks under a four-year lease agreement. Older metal detectors, like the ones shown here, will be moved from the high schools to middle and elementary schools, district officials say.

Evolv reports its detection systems are in more than 200 schools nationwide. Baltimore City Public Schools is installing Evolv Express metal detectors in four high schools this spring. Atlanta Public Schools began using the system in its 15 middle and 21 high schools late last year and will eventually have 32 total, including plans to install four of them at two football stadiums.

Similar Evolv crowd-screening technology is used by the Columbus Crew at Lower.com Field as well as at other stadiums like Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots; Acrisure (formerly Heinz) Field in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers and Pitt Panthers play; and places like Lincoln Center in New York, Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, and Six Flags, the company's website shows.

"They are trying to prevent and protect guns and other weapons from coming in," Chitkara said of Columbus City Schools officials.

All of Columbus City's high schools currently have portable metal detectors and handheld wands that are manufactured by Garrett, said district spokesperson Jacqueline Bryant. Earlier in the school year, the district randomly selected a school one day per week to have metal detectors.

Those metal detectors and handheld wands will be used at the middle and elementary schools after the Evolv systems are installed at the high schools, Baker said.

Dispatch reporter Cole Behrens contributed to this report.

mhenry@dispatch.com

@megankhenry

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus City leases $3M+ weapon detection systems at all high schools