Metal detector effectiveness depends heavily on the human element: training, correct operation and functioning equipment¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q1
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2022: tool and model accuracy changes quickly

Subclaims¶

q1 i? School personnel often lack training, devices have been run contrary to industry standards, operated while broken, or turned off completely. → Schildkraut 2019

Evidence¶

Schildkraut 2019¶

Schildkraut, J., & Grogan, K. (2019). Are metal detectors effective at making schools safer? San Francisco, CA: WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resources/are-metal-detectors-effective-at-making-schools-safer

q1 · i? · review · r2

The brief's narrative synthesis of prior work (Daniels, Royster & Vecchi 2007; National School Safety and Security Services) reports operational failures: detectors "operated even while known to be broken" or "turned off completely."

"In other cases, they have been operated even while known to be broken, or students have been allowed to pass through metal detectors that have been turned off completely"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Metal detectors impose substantial equipment, personnel, training and time costs on schools — related
• Two mass shootings exemplify how metal detectors can be insufficient at stopping such attacks — related
• Available data suggest schools with metal detectors identify more weapons through searches without scanning devices than through scanning — related
• Students report feeling less safe and more likely to perceive violence and disorder in schools with metal detectors — related
• Common physical and exclusionary safety measures can cause harm to the very students schools are trying to protect — related
• Metal detector use in US schools has held steady or slightly decreased since the 1990s despite renewed calls after the Parkland shooting — related
• Hardening strategies such as police in schools and metal detectors intervene too late in the pathway to violence to prevent attacks — related
• School leaders varied widely in implementing district security protocols, such as metal detector and bag-check enforcement — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Crisis-response training such as lockdown and Run-Hide-Fight can save lives but does not prevent school shootings — related
• Security cameras show no evidence of improving school safety, and evidence does not support expanding metal detector use — related