ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — As students head back to school, Dougherty County leaders are fighting back with new technology and a community-wide push for education. Vaping is not a local issue. It is a national crisis. Nationwide, more than 2.5 million children are currently vaping. In Georgia, the American Lung Association reports 18.2 percent of high school students are currently using e-cigarettes — more than double the national average. Locally, Albany Police Department have documented at least 50 cases involving children and vapes since January — including overdoses. And as students return to classrooms, school and health officials say the urgency has never been greater. “Vaping is not just a Dougherty County issue,” said Dougherty County Schools Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Dyer. “It’s nationwide. When you go to conferences, you hear about the challenges with vapes because they come in so many different forms.” Those forms include devices designed to look like everyday items: USB drives, pens, and other objects that are easy to conceal and difficult to detect with the naked eye. To combat vaping inside school buildings, Dougherty County Schools have installed vape detectors in bathrooms and other areas throughout middle and high school campuses. The district has also upgraded its surveillance systems, including high-definition cameras with facial recognition capabilities, and will replace old metal detectors with evolved weapons detection systems this fall. But Superintendent…
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