As faculties throughout the U.S. grapple with faculty security considerations relating to high school shootings, the Utah State Board of Education is encouraging its faculty districts to undertake and set up an AI program that may detect when an individual is brandishing a firearm.

The board permitted a $3 million contract in December with the emergency response expertise firm AEGIX Global to put in the AI expertise developed by the video analytics platform ZeroEyes at faculties throughout the state, in keeping with the Salt Lake Tribune. The transfer follows the passage of a state invoice within the spring that devotes $75 million to school safety efforts.

“Cameras that have this [firearm detection] software added to them can detect brandished weapons. Anything that is not concealed and generally visible to the human eye, the camera can pick up on it,” Utah State Board of Education School Safety Specialist Rhett Larsen informed Government Technology. “If someone were to have a firearm in the school in front of the cameras that have this software, it’ll pick up on it once it’s brandished … . Within seconds, they’ll determine if it is a firearm and contact dispatch in that local area.”

Schools that want to use the expertise will likely be chosen by a aggressive software course of and can obtain help with set up and tech coaching from AEGIX, Larsen defined. Among different necessities, faculties should have already got digicam programs in place to utilize the expertise. The software course of is anticipated to open in February.

“They’ll start working with the vendor and have until the end of June 2025 to utilize this software and this grant. After that time, it expires, and if it’s something they wish to continue, those schools would work with their local policymakers and local school boards to determine how they would want to keep it moving forward,” Larsen mentioned. “It’s an option for local education agencies if they want to give this a try to apply for it and see how it works for them.”

The choice in Utah comes after the 2 tech firms introduced a partnership last year to combine the ZeroEyes’ software program into the AEGIX AIM (lively incident administration) platform, which permits people in organizations like faculties to inform others of a disaster and whether or not they’re “safe” or “unsafe” by way of a desktop, laptop computer or smartphone. It additionally comes as faculties in Hernando County, Fla., adopted and expanded its use of the ZeroEyes software program final 12 months, in keeping with a current report from Security Magazine.

Kieran Carroll, chief technique officer of ZeroEyes, mentioned the expertise is designed to determine brandished weapons and ship photographs to ZeroEyes’ Operation Centers (ZOCs) staffed by navy and legislation enforcement veterans for human verification. He added that after they confirm {that a} gun has been recognized, they dispatch alerts, together with info comparable to visible description, gun sort and final recognized location of the shooter, to inform employees and legislation enforcement of the menace as rapidly as doable.

Carroll mentioned ZeroEyes’ different faculty prospects embody Rancocas Valley Regional High School in New Jersey; Center Grove Community Schools in Indiana; Leon County Schools in Florida; Adrian Public Schools and Oakland Community Schools in Michigan; Appoquinimink School District in Pennsylvania; and Berkshire Local School District in Ohio. ZeroEyes’ expertise has additionally been deployed within the Michigan state Capitol, in addition to Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs amenities, he famous.

Noting privateness considerations about faculty security applied sciences, Carroll mentioned that ZeroEyes solely focuses on detecting weapons and doesn’t use facial recognition expertise, in contrast to another controversial faculty security applied sciences. He mentioned the expertise “also does not store personal data.”

“Competitors that utilize facial and behavioral recognition are a major privacy concern for end users — especially educational institutions filled with minors,” he mentioned. “ZeroEyes mitigates this issue by focusing solely on detecting guns, with no ability to identify faces.”