At a recent school safety conference in Texas, the scene looked less like an education expo and more like a tech demo for a high-stakes action movie. Drones from Campus Guardian Angel zipped around a test dummy, showing off their ability to fire pepper balls and confront would-be shooters. The goal of these kind of drones, per KERA News: "to occupy and threaten the intruder, flying above him while buying time for police to arrive." The unmanned devices are just one method in a growing arsenal of products aimed at stopping school violence, reports NPR.
The school security business is now a $4 billion industry, according to market research firm Omdia, and it's not slowing down. Vendors at the Texas conference showcased everything from trauma kits and panic buttons to bullet-resistant whiteboards, body armor, facial recognition systems, and firearms. CBS News even reports on a collapsible "safe room" that can be used in classrooms. Some companies, like metal detector maker CEIA USA, say schools are now their main customer base.
But there's a catch: Despite the flurry of new gadgets, most have little evidence backing up their effectiveness, notes Sonali Rajan of Everytown for Gun Safety. Critics argue that essentials like mental health support and fostering trust within school communities are proven, if less flashy, ways to keep students safe.
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School resource officers—police assigned to campuses—also find themselves juggling tactical readiness with roles as informal counselors, striving to build connections with students who might tip them off to potential problems. As Mo Canady of the National Association of School Resource Officers puts it, it's "one of the most challenging policing roles." CEIA USA's Tom McDermott, meanwhile, tells NPR that even though having schools as clients in this moment is "good for business ... we don't need to be selling to schools." He adds, "It's not right. We need to solve this problem."
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