Technology

Military Experts Invented Technology To Detect Guns. Could It Help Prevent School Shootings?

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• Using artificial intelligence, military veterans at ZeroEyes designed technology to identify guns and cut down on the time for first responders to react to mass shootings.
• “If we can get the first responder that alert, that situational awareness, that intelligence, before the gun is fired, before a shot is fired, they are going to be able to exercise their security protocol that much more quickly and save lives,” Sam Alaimo, chief revenue officer and co-founder of ZeroEyes, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
• The technology has been implemented in half of U.S. states, with several schools using the technology.

A team of former Navy Seals and military veterans has developed gun detection technology now implemented in 25 states with the goal of “saving lives” as the country has been rocked by a wave of mass shootings in recent weeks.

Founded in 2018, ZeroEyes is an artificial intelligence company developed to be a “proactive solution” to mass shootings in schools and public places, the company’s website explains. ZeroEyes’ technology is installed into existing surveillance cameras in schools and businesses and uses artificial intelligence and analytics technology that can detect visible firearms.

Thousands of fake and real guns have been detected since the company began operating, Sam Alaimo, chief revenue officer and co-founder of ZeroEyes, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The whole goal is to save time,” Alaimo said. “If we can get the first responder that alert, that situational awareness, that intelligence, before the gun is fired, before a shot is fired, they are going to be able to exercise their security protocol that much more quickly and save lives.”

Human analysts, mainly military veterans, monitor every detection and once a threat is verified, appropriate personnel and first responders are notified in three to five seconds with the exact location of the gun.

The company conducts drills and pilots with first responders and customers upon installation, the website states.

Robert Chacon, a retired FBI special agent and counter-terrorism expert, told TheDCNF a system like ZeroEyes could help law enforcement respond more quickly to mass shootings.

“I applaud a system like this, trying to cut down on the time that first responders have in responding to one of these things. I just don’t know if an artificial intelligence system backed up by a human reviewing it is going to cut down on that much time,” Chacon said. “At least the way artificial intelligence is right now. I applaud the effort.”

Chacon said it would be hard to know if technology like ZeroEyes could have prevented the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

“If you want to prevent these things, you have to prevent that kid from getting a gun, you have to prevent that kid from going down the road of mental illness to where he wants to kill these people,” Chacon said. “There’s a lot of different factors but this is a system that will be employed during an event, not to prevent an event but during an event, to give first responders that extra additional time and we all know that time is crucial in these events.”

Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, which suffered a deadly mass shooting in November, announced on May 24 that they would install ZeroEyes’ technology. The school has more than 100 cameras, which have all been equipped by ZeroEyes, Bridge Michigan reported.

We’re honored to announce that ZeroEyes has been selected by Oxford High School in Michigan for a pilot program designed to dramatically reduce the likelihood of mass shootings on campus.

Read the full release: https://t.co/R1B4XWcI3X#schoolsafety #education #technology pic.twitter.com/voS2PyIENF

— ZeroEyes (@ZeroEyesAI) May 24, 2022

Rancocas Valley Regional High School District in Mount Holly, New Jersey, was one of the first to implement ZeroEyes’ technology, superintendent Chris Heilig told TheDCNF. Before equipping 200 cameras with the technology, the school ran an active shooting drill with first responders which convinced Heilig to move forward with the equipment.

“As they were going through this drill in the school, you can follow the person with the weapon and that’s really what decreases that time and minimizes casualties, which is really unbelievable to us,” Heilig told TheDCNF.

Alaimo told TheDCNF that time is crucial in the use of the equipment.

“We don’t know how many mass shootings we might have prevented at this point in time,” Alaimo said. “But we are detecting the guns and for that we are grateful.”