Gwinnett County Public Schools shows off new security measures ahead of first day of class

SUWANNEE, Ga. - Georgia's largest school district will welcome kids back in less than two weeks. Before students arrive for the first day, Gwinnett County Public Schools showed off its new safety and security measures to keep all of them safe.

"We're not just reacting, but we're being proactive," said Gwinnett County Public Schools Police Chief Tony Lockhart.

Chief Lockhart has the tall task of keeping students and staff at the district's 142 schools safe.

"Safety and security at every school is hard," he said. "You have to draw a fine line at keeping the school safe and making it look like a military installation."

Starting August 3, when students in Gwinnett County head back to class they will fully implement a new visitor check-in program called "Raptor". Visitors will be sent to designated doors to be buzzed in. Each visitor will then be run through a database to check and see if they are a sex offender. If the person comes back clean, they will be allowed to enter.

"It does not check any immigration status, a wanted status, if there's outstanding warrants or anything like that," Chief Lockhart.

Fifteen schools are equipped with secure vestibules as an extra layer of security. Nineteen other schools are in the process of getting the security upgrade.

"The visitor has to be buzzed in through the first set of doors, and then they check in with a staff member, go through the raptor system, and then at that point when they are cleared, they're buzzed in through another set of doors," said Chief Lockhart.

The district has 98-armed school resource officers with plans to hire about ten more. Currently, most of the SROs are stationed at middle and high schools. 

With the school year set to start soon, the district will be pushing its tip line in hopes of getting community members to report problems before they arise on campus.

"Seeing something, saying something," Chief Lockhart said. "We're going to be very active with that inside our schools in the community, getting more community involvement once again with the tip line where it's easier access."

The school system is also upgrading its cameras at high school football stadiums.