DEL CITY, Okla. (KFOR) – The “game plan” is changing at the Mid-Del School District. They’ve added new safety precautions during sporting and big school events.
The new technology kicks off for fans and students on Friday night.
From here on out, every fan who walks into a Mid-Del school game or big event will have to walk through a weapon detector machine to get inside. It will set off if you’re carrying a heavy metal item, and then you’ll be asked to step aside.
“One of the things we found is this open gate system, they’re very easy to move. They’re very easy to put in place. And we feel like this is something that’s going to protect our people,” said Andy Collier, executive director of activities, Mid-Del City School District.
Mid-Del City School District’s executive director of activities, Andy Collier said these new safety precautions have been in the works for a while now. Even before the shooting at the Del City High School basketball game back in January.
“We had protocols then. It was an unfortunate situation, but we were in the process of really researching this stuff way before then,” said Collier.
Chris Bachmann, Vice president of security for Goodwill Industries said this new system will be able to identify anything that should not be passing through the gates.
“It definitely will identify any firearms and explosives. We’ll also look for any other restricted items, such as knives or any metal project in anything that could set it off… It’s an incredible level of safety and security that the school district has been able to offer,” said Chris Bachmann, Vice president of security for Goodwill Industries.
The system will also be able to tell the difference between small items like cell phones or keys.
“We do ask that you leave anything large, heavy, bulky at home. It will just slow down the process from coming in,” said Bachmann.
Another precaution that is already in place is the clear bag policy.
All of these measures have now been set in place to keep students and fans as safe as possible.
“Our first responsibility is safety in our district and large events bring in lots and lots of people. And we want to make sure that that we take care of everybody. We don’t want guns, knives, anything else in our facilities,” said Collier.
The school district said they will use the technology for football games, basketball games and big events like fine art performances.
Students at Midwest City High School told KFOR they will feel safer with the new system.
“I mean, at my old school, we went through metal detectors every day and we got our bags checked so, it’s normal for me,” said Elizabeth Vann, senior at Midwest City High School.
The “open gate” weapon detector machines will be put into use starting at Friday night’s football game at Carl Albert. The school district said the game has been pushed back to 7:30 tonight because of the heat.
