Football Fans React To Tulsa Public Schools Using Metal Detectors At Games

New security measures at Tulsa Public Schools, which started at the beginning of the football season, are serving as a testing phase that will soon apply to other athletic events.

TPS has a clear bag policy at its events and uses new metal detectors to make games safer for everyone who attends.

Will Rogers High School says since it started using the detectors, it hasn’t found anything too alarming. Whether or not that’s because it’s deterring threats, it says the process is working.

Tulsa Public Schools says it’s taking security measures seriously to ensure the safety of its students and its visitors.

New measures were put in place on August 1, and with about 1,000 people being checked per game, Will Rogers High School says the policies are effective.

"The security system is the biggest process change," said Marie Conner, the Assistant Athletic Director. "It just helps make sure that all of our students, and our athletes and parents and everybody who’s coming is just protected and safe and keeps the environment ready for a safe game."

The school has 3 detectors, which are monitored by TPS police officers, and it only takes a few seconds to get through the process.

Officers say the detectors have a 3-to-6-foot radius and alert if anything is detected from the ground up.

Rogers High School says most people, like Amaris Adkins, are receptive to the safety measures.

"This is the first time I’ve been to a high school game," he said. "It does make me feel safer."

But others don’t agree. Travis Wyrick says he believes the security measures are unnecessary.

“It’s a public facility. I mean, the government runs it, and now, it’s like a prison,” Wyrick said.

Will Rogers High School says its intentions aren’t to inconvenience anyone except those who could be a threat.

“Not that I would expect anybody to do anything because we’ve done this forever, but just that one time, you never know what could happen or what should happen,” Conner said.

After the football season, the security measures will still apply to all athletic events going forward.