With the recent increase in gun violence and mass shootings, security practitioners responsible for protecting schools, colleges, hospitals, and special events are turning to technology, specifically metal detectors, to help them screen students, staff, and visitors for weapons, such as guns and knives, as well as other threat objects.
CEIA USA recently launched OPENGATE, a groundbreaking weapons detection system designed for the automatic screening of people, including their backpacks and bags, for the detection of mass casualty metal threats, such as high caliber assault weapons and improvised explosive devices.
In this interview, Campus Safety Editor-in-Chief Robin Hattersley chatted with Tom McDermott, CEIA’s school safety and security national sales manager, about OPENGATE and why it’s different from traditional metal detectors (1:15). He also describes how it can help your school more effectively detect weapons coming onto your campus or event much faster (more than 2,000 people per hour, compared to 500-700 people per hour with a traditional detector).
Additionally, McDermott discusses the following practices that campuses can adopt to improve their overall weapons screening processes:
- Not using metal detectors to detect vape pens and strategically adjusting system settings to focus on weapons that could be used in mass casualty attacks: 3:59
- How to screen students with laptops and other large electronic devices: 6:00
- Why walk-through detectors are more effective than hand-held detectors: 7:42
- Why it’s better to adopt a walk-through metal detector that does NOT show wear exactly on a person’s body or in their bag the weapon or threat object is located: 10:34
- How OPENGATE can be blended into a campus to be less threatening than a traditional walk-through weapons detection system: 14:07
- Why and when weapons detection systems should be deployed randomly: 17:38
CEIA USA will be exhibiting at all three of this summer’s Campus Safety Conferences. For more information, visit CEIA USA at ceia-usa.com.
