Student caught with gun by detector on first day

Scott Shumaker, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.)
·2 min read
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May 19—On the first day that Mesa High School deployed a high-tech weapons detection system at its entrances, the machines flagged a student attempting to enter with a gun.

Just after 8 a.m. May 15, police say Joseph Coops, 18, tried entering through the detectors with a gun in his backpack.

Coops was immediately detained and questioned. Police then arrested Coops and charged him with felony possession of a deadly weapon and two misdemeanors for possessing a weapon on school grounds and carrying a deadly weapon under the age of 21.

Mesa Police said investigators determined that Coops had no connection to any recent threats against the school, students or staff.

MPS spokeswoman Jen Snyder said it was "pure coincidence" that the detector caught the weapon on its first day deployment.

She said the system went into service at Mesa High last week as part of a pre-planned rollout of the weapons detectors at all MPS high schools this spring — not in response to a specific threat.

Last November, the MPS Governing Board approved the purchase of the new generation of portable weapons detectors to screen students for guns and knives in a minimally intrusive way.

The devices, which weigh about 25 pounds and look like two 6-foot posts, analyze magnetic fields with sophisticated software as students walk between them.

MPS security chief Al Moore told the board that the technology is "less intimidating" than the metal detectors typically seen at airports and government buildings.

Mesa is not the first district to implement the devices. MPS administrators watched the system in action at Buckeye's Agua Fria Union High School District before proposing the purchase.

Students entering high schools with the detectors are asked to remove computers and laptops from their backpacks, but other items like keys and phones can stay in bags as they walk through the system.

Skyline High launched a trial run of the weapons detectors in April. The school was selected to test the program because it is smaller and has fewer entrances than other Mesa high schools.

The program was next implemented at Red Mountain and Mountain View high schools. Mesa High launched the program yesterday and Westwood launched last week. Dobson will begin using the system tomorrow, Snyder said.

She said the detectors will also be used at graduations, along with the clear bag protocol.

"Safety is a top priority at Mesa Public Schools," the district said in a statement following Coops' arrest. "Weapons have no place in our schools. The weapons detection system is another layer to MPS security measures. Our goal is weapons detection will deter anyone from bringing weapons on our campuses."