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  • WBEN 930AM

    Buffalo High School teacher questions district's weapons detection system

    By Susan Rose,

    7 hours ago

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0KUwSC_0vREQgBh00

    Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "Sadly, this is becoming common every year."

    Riverside High School teacher Marc Bruno joined WBEN on Tuesday, just one day after a 15-year-old student was stabbed in a stairwell at McKinley High School, and another 15-year-old was arrested and charged with a felony.

    Bruno has been outspoken on violence in schools and on the administration's handling of it. Once he got word of Monday's stabbing, Bruno says he immediately thought about the district's security system.

    Buffalo Public Schools began installing Evolv Weapons Detection Systems in all of its schools in 2023. The cutting-edge system uses artificial intelligence and advanced imaging technology to detect weapons quickly and immediately alert authorities.

    Bruno disagrees.

    "This Evolv weapons detection system is not what the district says it is," he said.

    "I know for a fact that students are smuggling weapons in, in their shoes. Sometimes the machines are not going off. At Riverside, a parent accidentally brought a knife through the detection system and then told the principal that he forgot he had a knife on his key chain."

    It wasn't detected.

    Bruno added that, in his opinion, traditional metal detectors are far less expensive and they actually detect weapons.

    "Is the Evolv system really effective and is it giving a false sense of security in our schools?" Bruno wondered aloud.

    He would also like to see police in schools every day, in his words, "building relationships, rather than sitting outside in cars."

    Meanwhile, former Buffalo school principal Kevin Eberle, who is an education and school safety consultant, spoke to WBEN about the technology.

    "The idea that you're going to catch everything because you have a system in place is a falsehood. The companies that are out there now are really looking at, unfortunately, mass casualties, so they're looking at bombs and guns. The system does pick up larger knives. The AI, artificial intelligence, is getting more advanced as we go," said Eberle.

    Eberle says if people knew how many things get through the TSA at airports everyday, they'd be hesitant to fly.

    Click below to hear the entire interview with Eberle:

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    Comments / 5
    Add a Comment
    Diamond Fawn
    48m ago
    Absolutely positively a hundred percent
    Tanisha Brooks
    3h ago
    Great job Buffalo but please share how you decided which schools gets this grand technology
    View all comments
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