SOUTH BEND — The threat detection system at Riley High School is a permanent fixture but is not used every school day, South Bend Community School Corp. (SBCSC) officials said Monday, Jan. 13.
This follows an incident on Friday, Jan. 10, when a Riley student was taken to jail after a handgun was found in their backpack. Andrew Goetz, the district’s director of communication, told The Tribune on Monday that Riley had used the system that day, but he said he was not certain whether the system’s use on Monday was a direct response to Friday’s incident.
Instead, he said, the system isn’t always used but is “randomly deployed” to screen students as they enter the building.
“They’re in several of our schools, and they’re used primarily at sporting events,” he said. “But they’re also deployed throughout the academic year, and I don’t know every school’s policy on it, but … I know, specifically, Riley uses it pretty randomly.”
According to previous Tribune reporting, SBCSC Safety and Emergency Preparedness Director Eric Crittendon said CEIA Open Gate security detectors would be installed in the schools but not deployed every school day unless there was a threat.
South Bend Community School Corporation’s Safety and Emergency Preparedness Director Eric Crittendon waves basketball sectional attendees through security detectors, Friday, March 1, 2024.
Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Rayleigh Deaton at rdeaton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Security detectors at South Bend’s Riley High School not used each day