RAPID CITY, SD — Rapid City Area Schools has announced that as part of an initiative toward increasing safety measures in schools, the district has purchased several weapons detection systems from security company Ceia USA.

Ceia’s OPENGATE units act as an “automatic screening system designed for high-throughput security environments,“ according to the company’s website, or in other words as a high-capacity metal detector designed to have around the same interference with traffic as theft detection at most major retailers. Introduction of these units, set to be installed in Central High and RCAA have been made possible through a $200,000 contribution from the Federal COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) Grant, and the cooperation of the RCPD. This system is set to be introduced at Steven High School at some point in the future, however a timeline on when the district aims to implement these systems is not available at this time.

“Student and staff safety are always our top priority at Rapid City Area School district and we’re always looking for ways to strengthen that,” said Superintendent Dr. Jami Jo Thompson “Our new weapons detection system is just one part of a broader, more comprehensive safety plan – which also includes adding safe and secure entrances to all of our buildings, providing training on our safety protocols and building strong positive relationships with our students”. This system will ideally not interfere with students entering the school, and according to Thompson, those flagged as potentially having weapons will be taken to a “discrete location” where they will receive additional screening “either through a metal detection wand or asking students to empty their pockets”.

However, visible security measures like this can be a double-edged sword, and often the appearance of security in the form of metal detectors can lead to decreased feelings of safety for students (Via The American Journal Of Criminal Justice). Students are people, and in the same way any of us would be distressed if an authority figure took a person out of a line and into a separate room, students can feel that same worry around their peers and for themselves – and while this measure is relatively low-impact in RCAS’s implementation, it isn’t invisible. A system like this can signal to students that there is a serious problem which a metal detector is working to combat, which can spread fears and rumors if unchecked.

“It’s not that we don’t feel our schools are safe at this point,” said Thompson in anticipation of these worries from both parents and students, “We just want to make sure we’re continuing to increase our safety precautions,” Thompson additionally emphasized that while Stevens will remain without these new precautions for the foreseeable future, this does not make it a more unsafe school. 

As for student worries? “We’re not putting this in place as a disciplinary action, we’re not trying to create a situation where students have undue stress,” said Thompson, who followed, “First of all, don’t bring an item that you shouldn’t have within our school. That would be my number one suggestion, but number two, if you are feeling some sort of stress about it, talk to an administrator or to a [Student Resource Officer] and they can probably help alleviate some of that stress”.

These new security measures are set to be in place by May 4th.