KEIZER, Ore. — As students have started settling into the school year, one local district is taking some extra safety steps.

Salem-Keizer middle schools will be getting weapons detectors over the course of this school year, just one year after they were installed in the high schools.

The district’s safety director Chris Baldridge said the implementation of weapons detectors in middle schools stems from what he calls "disturbing" data out of Marion County.

“We've seen a decline in age in charges where it’s possession of a weapon which is really kind of a driving factor for us,” Baldridge said. “We don't want weapons in our schools.”

The detection system checks everyone who enters the schools as they walk through screening lanes. Staff then check a backpack for example if a quiet alert

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