Prince William County Public Schools rolls out weapons detectors at high school football games

WOODBRIDGE, Va. ( DC News Now ) — There’s an effort to make high school football games safer around Prince William County Public Schools (PWCPS).

The county is expanding its Evolv weapons detector program, which began inside schools last year. The detectors will now be at entrances for all high school football and boys’ basketball games.

Some parents who spoke with DC News Now at the Gar-Field Senior High School home football game expressed their support for the devices.

“We want all of our kids to be safe,” Belinda Wells, who has a son on the football team, said.

Wells told DC News Now that she feels safer this year than last.

“Last year there were certain schools that no visitors were allowed to go into [for certain football games],” she said. “As a parent, that was kind of hard for us because we had to miss our kid playing because of outside situations with kids fighting in a parking lot.”

According to PWCPS Assistant Director of Security and Crisis Readiness, Dawn Harman, no guns entered county schools after last year’s Evolv implementation. Additionally, she said there was a 72% reduction in overall weapons and a 22% reduction in vaping.

“We wanted to target those particular avenues where we have the most attendees,” Harman said of the expansion.

Russell McQuain said he hopes these devices help ensure the rivalries are decided on the field instead of in the stands or parking lots.

“I’m old school,” he said. “I go all the way back to the 70s in Prince William. I can remember the fights between rivalries like Gar-Field and Woodbridge. So anything to keep everybody safe is nice.”

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