School police also are chasing down every telephone call reporting a suspicious or potentially armed student, Hall said. We're following up on every one of them. Nonetheless, metal detectors may offer little long-term help. Students determined to bring a gun or some other weapon to school can find ways around metal detectors, school police officers said. Furthermore, metal detectors could raise anxiety among students instead of making them feel safer.
Cost also weighs against using metal detectors.
It gets expensive. Tighter supervision and fostering better communication between adults and kids at school, and among the students themselves, are more likely to thwart campus violence than metal detectors, said Wes Braddock, safe schools coordinator for the Sweetwater Union High School District.