Brevard Public School board members considered a new AI technology to harden school campuses even further days after a school shooting in Wisconsin.
What You Need To Know
- Brevard School board members listened to a presentation about a new AI software
- The program would use footage from school cameras to identify brandished firearms
- That footage would then to go a call center, who would reach out to local authorities
Zeroeyes is a program that uses AI software using footage from school security cameras to detect “brandished” firearms.
It’s touted as a way to detect guns and decrease response time for authorities.
Representatives from Zeroeyes presented their technology to Brevard School Board members Tuesday.
Their goal is to stop mass and active shootings across the country. It all began with the Parkland tragedy in 2018.
After the shooting, they went to schools for a possible solution.
“We ran into a school resource officer after noticing cameras all around the school, and asked, ‘who is watching your cameras, or what are you doing with these?’ The school resource officer said no one watches them, they are used for evidentiary purposes only. We go back and we try to see what happened,” says Zeroyes VP of Sales JT Wilkins.
That sparked the idea for the initiative.
The company created software that works with the cameras to spot firearms, large or small.
Cameras are constantly monitored by the company and an alert box highlights any gun in the frame.
“If something that appears to be a brandished firearm goes under the view of the camera that we’re loaded on to, that alert is going to get sent out to our Zeroeyes operations center, 24/7, 365,” Wilkins explained to members of the school board.
Every person manning the operations center is former military or police and trained to detect weapons.
If one is found, seconds later the alert goes out to law enforcement on site.
Brevard County has around 5,000 cameras in its 100 schools.
School Board Chair Gene Trent says this could be another layer to school security like the recent decision to install metal detectors in high schools.
“Our critics came and said, well it won’t stop everything, and we know that, of course, it won’t, but with layers of protection, our students are worth it,” Trent said after the presentation.
It’s worth noting that Zeroeyes is already used by Seminole County’s school system.
Brevard School Board members will decide at a later date on whether to implement the AI technology, and if all school cameras in the school district will be used, or just some.