Lancaster County schools look to AI to improve security with new $1.4M system
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lancaster County schools installed $1.4M AI-based Evolv scanners at nine sites.
- Evolv systems scan 1,200 students in 45 minutes, doubling speed over past detectors.
- AI scanners flag threats, track entry points, and support post-incident analytics.
Lancaster County schools launched a $1.4 million security upgrade on Friday that will use artificial intelligence to protect students. It’ll get them to class faster, too.
Students began walking through new Evolv weapons detection systems on Friday. All nine middle and high schools have them after the district got a $608,000 grant from the South Carolina Department of Education in November. The school board funded the rest.
Sensors in the equipment use AI to identify a range of objects and determine their threat level.
The Evolv systems are similar to what you might see at a large sporting event, a trip to Carowinds or other places where large groups gather.
“It’s a metal detector, but it’s a little bit better metal detector,” said district Safety and Transportation Director Lonnie Plyler. “It’s less intrusive. The kids can walk through it with their bookbags.”
Students, staff and school visitors will pass through the scanners. Students will remove Chromebooks, three-ring binders, water bottles and umbrellas.
But the automatic bookbag scan is significant. Evolv scanners checked 1,200 students in 45 minutes during a demonstration at Lancaster High School. Traditional metal detectors used for several years across the district take twice that long.
If the scanner flags a weapon or part of a weapon, the person passing through it will be asked to step aside for an additional check. The Evolv system also generates analytics and dashboards, and creates images to show when and where a weapon entered.
Along with keeping weapons out of schools, the system could provide information for discipline or prosecution after an incident.
The Evolv systems aren’t in place due to any uptick in weapons cases in Lancaster County schools, Plyler said.
“We take all threats seriously,” Plyler said. “We have not received anything that would make us jump to this decision. It’s just an upgrade of what we had, trying to move the students faster through them where we don’t run into seat time that they need in the classes.”
Lancaster County weapons incidents
The state Education Department releases annual report cards for schools and districts that list how many incidents schools report of someone possessing a firearm or explosive.
Data for last school year should be released soon. In the seven prior school years, there were a combined 688 incidents of weapons possession statewide.
Lancaster County had nine incidents in that same seven-year span. The most in any school year was three, which happened twice. The most recent time was the return from COVID school year of 2020-21.
There have been incidents of weapons found on school campuses across the Rock Hill region going back decades, and students arrested for bringing them, according to Herald archives. Guns used in a school shooting have been far less common.
Technology growing in effort to protect students
Evolv, based in Massachusetts, lists professional and collegiate sports teams, hospitals, casinos, corporations and school districts among its client list. The cloud-based system will provide in-the-moment data for Lancaster County schools.
Each middle school and high school will have two Evolve units. They are mobile, so the same system used each morning could be be used at the gym for a basketball game, or even at the football stadium outside the main campus.
The district will still have its older metal detectors, and they’re likely to be used at large events like football games.
District elementary schools also have traditional metals detectors that principals can choose to use however often they want.
The Lancaster County district will continue security measures using drug dogs and vape detectors. They’re looking to upgrade the district camera system with AI feautres, Plyler said. It’s all part of a balance between keeping students comfortable at school and making sure they’re as safe as possible.
“We knew that the technology was out there to do things a little bit better,” Plyler said.
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 1:09 PM.
