When Protection Becomes Profit: A Deep Dive into the School Security Industry
In an era where school shootings dominate headlines, a new documentary titled Thoughts and Prayers peels back the curtain on a booming, controversial sector: the school security industry. Directed by filmmaker Ava Collins, the film doesn’t just ask why these tragedies keep happening—it questions who benefits when fear becomes a commodity.
The Rise of a Billion-Dollar Industry
The documentary opens with a jarring statistic: Since the 1999 Columbine massacre, the U.S. school security market has grown into a $3 billion-a-year behemoth. Companies now sell everything from bulletproof backpacks to AI-powered surveillance systems, while active shooter drills have become as routine as fire drills. Thoughts and Prayers introduces viewers to trade shows where vendors demonstrate products like “panic buttons” disguised as desk lamps and classroom doors that lock automatically when gunfire is detected.
One interviewee, a former school administrator, admits, “After every tragedy, our inboxes flood with brochures promising ‘total safety.’ It feels predatory, but desperation makes you consider anything.” The film doesn’t dismiss the need for precautions but challenges the ethics of profiting from collective trauma.
Who’s Selling Safety?
A particularly gripping segment follows a mother who lost her child in a school shooting. She tearfully describes receiving targeted ads for bulletproof whiteboards just days after the tragedy. “It felt like vultures circling,” she says. The documentary then shifts to executives from security firms, who defend their work. “If we don’t fill this need, someone else will,” argues one CEO. Another claims, “Our technology saves lives—period.”
But critics, including educators featured in the film, push back. A high school teacher shares how her district spent $500,000 on a facial recognition system that routinely mistakes cellphones for weapons. “Meanwhile, we’ve cut counseling positions,” she notes. Psychologists interviewed warn that constant lockdown drills are heightening anxiety among students, with young children drawing pictures of shooters during art class.
The Politics of Prevention
Thoughts and Prayers doesn’t shy away from the elephant in the room: gun control. While the security industry thrives, legislative efforts to restrict firearms stall. The film contrasts lobbyists for security companies—who pour millions into political campaigns—with grassroots activists demanding policy changes. “We’re treating symptoms, not the disease,” says a survivor of the Parkland shooting.
Archival footage shows lawmakers touring high-tech “safe schools” while rejecting bills to expand background checks. The irony isn’t lost on viewers: Politicians champion “hardening” schools but resist addressing the root cause.
Communities Caught in the Middle
Perhaps the documentary’s most poignant moments come from small towns grappling with impossible choices. In one rural district, parents fundraise for security upgrades because the state won’t. A father admits buying his daughter a bulletproof vest, adding, “I never thought I’d live in a world where this is normal.”
Meanwhile, students themselves emerge as unlikely critics. Teenagers interviewed mock the futility of hiding under desks during drills. “A rifle can shoot through concrete,” says one. “How is a bookshelf gonna stop it?” Others organize walkouts to demand action beyond “thoughts and prayers” and metal detectors.
A Path Forward?
The documentary concludes not with easy answers but with a call to re-examine priorities. It highlights schools investing in conflict resolution programs and mental health resources rather than high-tech gadgets. In one standout example, a district partners with local artists to replace bleak, prison-like security gates with murals promoting peace.
Ava Collins leaves viewers with a haunting question: “When did we decide that arming classrooms was easier than disarming hate?” Thoughts and Prayers isn’t just about school security—it’s a mirror reflecting America’s struggle to protect its children without losing its soul.
As credits roll, the screen fills with names of students and teachers killed in school shootings. The final frame reads: “Their lives mattered more than any profit margin.” It’s a gut punch that lingers long after the lights come up.
Please indicate: Thinking In Educating » When Protection Becomes Profit: A Deep Dive into the School Security Industry