Clinton High School students returned to class this week with a system that uses artificial intelligence to detect concealed weapons in use. Clinton Superintendent Gary DeLacy thinks it will really improve safety.
“I believe with this technology Clinton High School will be the safest school campus in the state of Iowa,” he says. It is not a metal detector, it looks at the density and shape of items to determine if they are guns or knives. DeLacy says there will be some education involved as they use the system. “If you’re carrying something that might be real straight that it could detect that, is that a knife, it could go off. “We’ll take a look at that, pull it out of your bookbag or whatever and have you walk through and then make sure that it doesn’t go off,” DeLacy says.
The system is designed so it recognizes the shape of a cellphone and keys, so it doesn’t go off when they are detected. DeLacy says the new machine will allow high school students to carry their bookbags between classes. “Which is something they used to do and then because of school safety we decided not to do that.” DeLacy says. “So they’ll have some of that option, and we talked about clear bags coming into our football games, that won’t be necessary anymore because of this technology so you don’t need a clear bag.”
Iowa has a concealed carry law, but DeLacy says they will not let guns on campus. “The school district has got the discretion in terms of no weapons on the campus and we will have signage up,” he says. “You’re not going to be allowed to do a concealed carry unless you are actually a police officer.”
Students returned to class in Clinton Wednesday.
(By Paul Dymkowski, KROS, Radio)