DISCLAIMER: I do not attend school with metal detectors installed, but this is an important issue nevertheless.

Currently, students at certain middle and high schools must pass through metal detectors before entering their place of learning. Crime in NYC schools has decreased in the past decade, yet the NYPD and the Department of Education continue to criminalize the classroom. Thousands of students hit bottlenecks each day as they go to school waiting to be scanned and label as potential criminals. African-Americans and Latinos are nearly three times as likely to pass through a metal detector than their White and Asian counterparts. By disproportionately targeting minority students, the politicians at City Hall are stereotyping people who are already face discrimination. How can anyone think this is acceptable? Chancellor Fariña, and Commissioner Bratton claim that the use of metal detectors are based on crime data, saying that "The Education Department and the NYPD will review data and work closely with school leadership teams to determine whether or not scanners should be removed, added or used only part-time at each school."(The Daily News). This is politician and police speak for "We hear you, but we're but not doing anything significant about it because we already have our positions." The politicians and the police need to stop making excuses for continuing to criminalize the classroom.

Metal detectors also infringe on the 4th Amendment (which is already limited the moment students enter school) because there is no probable cause (or even a suspicion) for scanning everyone. If the police were to search your home or apartment everyday without any reason whatsoever simply for the fact that you live in NYC, you would probably be outraged, so why do we have lower standards for our children?

Are we guilty until proven innocent or the other way around?

Teachers would be in an uproar if they had to wait with the students to be scanned. Once again, why do the politicians and the police choose to set lower standards for our children?

I am certainly not against school safety or anti-police as we need to continue to keep our schools safe for everyone, but is it absolutely necessary to label all students as potential criminals the moment they set foot in their school? The NYPD and the Department of Education need to explore alternative ways to maintain the safety of our schools, such a conflict resolution and bullying awareness.

The Department of Education wastes thousands of dollars per year to maintain the metal detectors, as evidenced by a decrease in spending per student in schools with permanent metal detectors ($11,282 vs. $9,062). That money is better utilized for new textbooks, after school programs, senior activities and teachers.

The New York City Department of Education must issue an order prohibiting the use of metal detectors in any of its schools because no student should have to labeled as a potential criminal.

Let's Decriminalize the Classroom!

Further Reading

- Criminalizing the Classroom: The Over-Policing of New York City Schools

- In a Brooklyn School, Metal Detectors Inject Fear