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WASHINGTON CO. Tenn. (WCYB) — A safety tool helps to keep predators out of local Washington County, Tennessee schools.
The Raptor system helps to stop unfamiliar faces from getting into local schools. When a visitor comes to the school, their government issued ID is scanned, and screens is anyone is on the sex offender registry.
“We utilize it when visitors come in, their government issued ID is scanned, and the main screening is- if anyone is on the sex offender registry and that individual gets flagged, we do not allow them in our building,” Superintendent for Washington County, Tennessee schools said.
The system did its job last week, stopping a convicted sex offender from getting into a Washington County School.
“It was an individual that was coming to campus for the first time, who was going to do some contract work and with new visitors, he was screened in and there was a flag. He never had an opportunity to work in our schools and he was immediately escorted out of the building,” Boyd said.
Boyd says the systems also flags anyone who is not on the student’s emergency contact list.
“If there’s been an issue with custody, it would be flagged in the system where there’s a court order where an individual can’t have access to any child in our school – that’s also part of the protocol,” Boyd said.
Boyd says the school resource officers also play a big part in the system’s success.
“The Raptor system did alert the SRO, it alerted myself and the principle, and we were able to deal with that situation before they were able to make an entry into the school,” Lieutenant for Washington County Sheriff’s Office, SRO division, Kevin Sanders said.
Boyd says the yearly cost of the program at all schools is approximately $18,000.
