Identifying the Threats
Using AI to make school security smarter before the first shot
- By Rob Huberty
- August 01, 2020
There are few events more devastating
and difficult to prevent than mass
shootings. When the average length
of an active shooter incident is twelve
and a half minutes, but the average
police response time is 18 minutes, every
second matters in an active shooter situation.
There is a vast network of security cameras
in the world, but they are primarily used
as forensic evidence. First responders walk
into unimaginable situations because they
don’t have enough situational awareness
when they arrive on scene, lacking real-time
information about the number of shooters,
weapons and current locations of threats.
More often than not, conflicting reports
on the ground deliver inaccurate intelligence
about the location and description of the
shooter — misleading dispatchers and law
enforcement, as well as wasting valuable
time while police clear unnecessary rooms
looking for threats.
K-12 schools in the United States are
leveraging artificial intelligence to make
their security cameras smarter and give first
responders, faculty and students the best
chance at preventing mass tragedy.
In 2019, Rancocas Valley Regional High
School (RVRHS) in Mount Holly, N.J.,
installed an AI weapons detection system
that integrated with their legacy security
cameras, as an added layer to their safety-
first protocols. Camera feeds are monitored
by an algorithm that has been trained to
detect guns of many types — from handguns
and shotguns to the assault rifles typically
used in mass shootings. As soon as a weapon
is detected by the system, an alert is sent to
administrators, school resource officers,
police and/or 911 dispatch. Officials can see
a map of the school and know exactly where
the shooter or shooters are in real-time
based on camera feeds.
This platform delivers the opportunity to
prevent the shooting if the shooter is outside
the school by locking the school doors before
a shot is fired; the opportunity to move students
away from the shooter toward safe
zones or evacuation points. It also allows
first responders to go to the shooter’s exact
location more quickly, knowing how many
and what kind of weapons are present, preventing
further violence from occurring as
well as rendering first aid much faster if
needed, saving lives.
All of these opportunities happen at first
sight — not at first shot. Security cameras
became the new “fire alarm” against exposed
guns.
In its initial pilot of the technology,
RVRHS scripted a series of active shooter
drills with 60 police officers from six local
townships and integrated with Burlington
County 911 Dispatch. The first set of drills
did not use weapons detection technology,
and officers had to rely upon simulated 911
calls and role-playing to determine the location
of the threat. In the second set of drills,
weapons detection technology was deployed,
and responding officers interacted directly
with their 911 Dispatch to locate and neutralize
the threat.
The results were profound. On average,
the response time from first notification of
an active shooter to first contact with the
active shooter was reduced by 50 percent
when using weapons detection technology.
911 Dispatch was able to continuously
update responding officers on suspect location,
physical description, weapon type and
disposition when using weapons detection,
which improved tactical situational awareness
by responding units.
Also, 911 Dispatch was able to conduct
real-time forensics with weapons detection,
which ultimately resulted in identifying a
shooter hiding among students.
Since then, South Pittsburg High School
in Tennessee has also deployed weapons
detection technology after pilots demonstrated
a significant improvement in
response time and situational awareness by
responding units.
Active shooters continue to represent a signi
ficant threat to American schools, and we
need solutions to prevent these tragedies. By
augmenting current security measures with
the latest in artificial intelligence, schools are
adding a proactive component to curb mass
shootings and ultimately give students, faculty
and first responders a chance.
This article originally appeared in the July August 2020 issue of Campus Security Today.
About the Author
Rob Huberty is the co-founder and COO of ZeroEyes.