Metal Detector Wands Are Here, Police To Train in Use

Metal detector wands have come in to the Baltimore County Police Department, and an officer from the Pikesville precinct will train on how to use them in schools.

Lt. Michael DiCara, assistant commander for the precinct, said Sgt. John Soter will go Thursday to the training academy in Dundalk to train on the wands' use and legality.

He will bring back that knowledge for the school resource officers who will have the handheld wands to use in some schools.

DiCara gave the update during the monthly meeting Tuesday of the Pikesville Police & Community Relations Council.

The metal detectors, ordered by the department in light of the first-day-of-school shooting at Perry Hall High School, will be used when an officer suspects a crime, according to a report by WBAL-TV last month.

They were received from the vendor on Monday, DiCara said.

It was the idea of Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Police Chief James Johnson, DiCara said during the Tuesday meeting.

"They have not put out a standard operations procedure, (but) Officer Soter will bring it back," DiCara said after the meeting.

He said he's not certain at which schools the wands will be in use. "At the very least the high schools will have them," he said, referring to Pikesville High School and Milford Mill Academy, both in the precinct.

Officer Larry Stallings said, also after the meeting, that the metal detectors won't be used all the time, but will be "an added tool" in law enforcement.