Baltimore City Schools' investment in an AI weapons detection system called Evolv—secured at more than $5 million for installation across 27 high schools—is raising questions and concerns among city leaders after a Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee hearing yesterday. The system, processing around 14,000 entries each morning according to the school district’s data, shouldered scrutiny as approximately 30% of these entries triggered false alarms for benign items, including laptops and water bottles, necessitating a deeper look into its efficacy and cost-effectiveness.
Described as a tool for enhancing safety and efficiency within schools, the technology has been underutilized, with its facial recognition capabilities intentionally left dormant inside city schools to avoid surveillance of students. Chief of Staff Allison Perkins-Cohen emphasized the focus on detecting weapons and not subjecting students to any sort of unnecessary scrutiny, as she told CBS News Baltimore. The Public Safety Committee, led by Councilman Mark Conway, questioned whether the technology, touted for its advanced AI that could discern various types of weapons, was overpriced for functioning, as it currently does, more like a sophisticated metal detector.
Last year’s statistics showed no weapons detection, and this year, only one BB gun has been found, numbers seemingly at odds with the cost and functionality claims of Evolv, City Schools members reported at the committee hearing, while also confirming that they tested the pilot and purchased the contract before an FTC report questioning the reliability of Evolv's weapon detection capabilities. This has led Conway to ponder whether the city overspent on a system that promised more than what it could deliver, as Fox Baltimore includes in its coverage.
Adding to these concerns, an incident at Kenwood High School in October 2025 punctuated the issue with the AI system's tendency for false positives, where a harmless chip bag was mistaken for a weapon, this prompted city leaders, including Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, to call for a review and implore that the Baltimore City Schools system communicate about this technology in plain language, with public safety being one of the major issues students bring up, which was emphasized during CBS News Baltimore's report. The committee is further set to review the sole-source contract between the district and Evolv as they address these substantive concerns.
