CCSD football game security system creates learning curve amid confiscations

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The metal cowbell traveled 2,500 miles from Wayne, New Jersey to a Henderson high school football field, only to be stopped at the one-yard line by security personnel.

Shaun George, parent of a Wayne Hills football player, said the new security checkpoint was simple before he walked his celebratory metal cowbell back to the Green Valley High School parking lot.

“It was easy going,” George said. “I believe in all types of safety when it comes to kids and everything else and this was a great experience.”

The new Clark County School District weapon detection system is comprised of two electronic metal detecting towers, a camera, a connected tablet, and a security wand.

Steve Hewitt, a CCSD Police Department lieutenant, stood by monitoring the security setup prior to the football game and acknowledged the technology at work.

“It’s communicating with that [tablet] at all times,” Hewitt said. “Every person pops through very quickly, and it’ll put a box around anywhere on their body that the mass of metal that was detected.”

August has seen 28 weapon confiscations so far according to monthly CCSD police reports. Four weapon confiscations were reported in and around Legacy High School during the hours of one football game. Hewitt noted the risks posed by large crowds bringing items to football games and the learning curve for school staff operating the system.

“Just like with any new technology, there’ll be some speed bumps and some hiccups along the way, but nothing major,” he said. “As the staff of the district learn how to use the system, we’re going to see the fans and the students enter even quicker—and it’s going well.”

Emergency management for CCSD trained school staff according to Hewitt who said the availability of new tools led the way for a change at the checkpoints.

“Anytime there’s new technology that the district, the police department, and CCSD Emergency Management learn of, we want to implement that to make the experience better for students, staff, and the parents of the football players,” Hewitt said. “Confiscations are always concerning to us, but getting people into the games quicker and still detecting any metal that we needed to detect was overall goal.”

Close to the checkpoint Henderson Police Officer Charles Jackson tossed a football to a young student discussing the role law enforcement played in the field.

“We’re here to help our brother of Clark County School District Police,” Jackson said. “We’re here to secure the area, make sure everything’s running smoothly.”

The playbook, according to Jackson, is to make sure city police monitor the security of the area as school police monitor the entrances manned by school staff.

“It’s good when we can get together as a group like this and work with different agencies and each other when it comes to these kind of things,” he said. “Plus, a little bit of football, you can’t beat that. I mean, you got to love Friday night lights.”

School staff appeared to confiscate one backpack thrown over the football field fence Friday night, no other confiscations were reported during the hours of the game between the Wayne Hills Patriots and Green Valley Gators.

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