Even the Best Top-End Walk Through Metal Detectors Require Trained Staff to Operate; Yet Who May Put a Price On Saving A Childs Life?

Even the best,  higher priced (walk through) model metal detectors still need properly trained staff to operate them for them to do their job effectively. To deter students from bringing dangerous weapons such as guns or knives into schools, the best machines cannot do the entire job by themselves.

In recent years there seems to have been increased activity in gun and knive related incidents (such as school shootings) and other deadly and violent behaviors in schools.

The added costs of training, supervising and operating these devices must still be figured into budgets (who have already suffered cuts) and this may be a part of the reason more schools have yet to purchase the devices. Parents want to know their kids will be safe at school, and who can blame them?

While most parents and educators agree that something needs to be done to increase security within schools as well as courtrooms, (who would be more likely to use the walk through models, like the above) the continued cost of daily operations may stop some short of making such a purchase.

When proposing to add such security measures; (in order to help keep student and faculty safe) department heads still have to figure in the long-term operational costs of the added security to their already strained budgets.

Studies have proven the devices to be most effective at detecting deadly objects, therefore, how may one even begin to start to go about trying to justify the cost of not having them in place?  (To aid in saving children lives)

I would suggest that if there are no guns within the school grounds, then the chances of having a child shot while at school would go way down. Not only that, there are certainly other programs and routines concerning violence awareness that staff and educators may implement that are proven to help curb such activities.

But in today’s multicultural nationalities, the societal variables dictate that there will be many different world-views (and therefore conflicts among kids) the mere fact that we have the technology to take firearms out of the picture; begs the question, how can we raise money to buy these machines?

Studies have shown that less than 20% of all public school systems do not have metal detectors in place. Do they suppose that if a threat should show itself (through a rumor, or word of threat) that they may simply rent a portable device until the threat passes?

It could be a possibility. But it has to be determined that since these machines are known to do a great job; it has to be the cost and budget concerns that are keeping the majority of the school systems from buying the machines. That, plus the recession years we have been through.

So, is it the combined cost of hiring new security staff (As well as the initial cost) that is keeping more and more schools from purchasing, or simply the state of the economy? As the Nation recovers into a proper budget and gets back on track; we will see.