ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — For the last two weeks, high school students in Anderson School District Five have been met with new technology at their schools’ front doors.

“They’re made to get a lot of people through the system,” said Shannon Piller, the district’s Executive Director for Safety and Security. “You can put over a thousand people an hour through these systems.”

The district recently installed Evolv weapons detection systems at the main entrances of Westside High School and T.L. Hanna High Schools. The total cost was $467,000, according to the district.

The technology is designed to screen for items that are shaped like a cylinder.

“They will pick up on some of your larger knives and some other types of objects,” explained Piller. “That’s what they are designed to do — pick up on mass casualty items, like a handgun or bigger.”

If a suspicious item is detected, tablets will show school staff where the item is located. Staff will then perform a secondary search.

“Because of some of our secondary screenings and beyond, we find other items as well that shouldn’t be in the school, like drugs or other items, that we deal with accordingly,” said Piller.

“We’ve had a couple of incidents here in District Five where we’ve had guns so far this year in both high schools,” he added “We’ve had incidents in the past as well, so we found that it was something necessary to do.”

The technology was installed as districts across the country and the Upstate look to boost security in the wake of school shootings.

“We have about 1,700 students so anything that we can do to deter anything that shouldn’t be in our schools, I think, is a plus for us here at Westside,” said Kory Roberts, the Principal of Westside High School.

“Security is all about layers,” added Piller. “This is just one of those layers that we’ve put in the place, and there are multiple other layers that we’re putting into place.”

Piller said the systems are currently being used indoors, but the district is exploring using them for outdoor sporting events.

In just two weeks, Roberts said the technology has brought peace of mind to staff and students.

“In speaking with them, they are pleased that we have this safety measure,” said Roberts. “I think it makes them feel a lot safer in school.”