Using AI, new technology aims to detect guns before they get into schools

Surveillance cameras are already all over school campuses. New technology from a company called Omnilert hopes to put those cameras to work, to detect guns.

To do so, Omnilert uses artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor video feeds from existing cameras, and alerts when it finds a weapon that is drawn.

"To have to watch 100 video feeds in a school, for example, is just an impossible task," explained Chad Green, Director of AI for Omnilert. "So, we can take the video feeds that are already present, and use Omniliert's gun detect software and monitor each frame of each video in real time."

Green's passion to develop the technology was born from tragedy. His cousin's daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. That prompted him to leave his work as a defense contractor for the U.S. military, and devote his talents to school safety.

"Any place where a weapon should not be, we can use our system with your existing infrastructure, your existing cameras," he explained. "We’re now making those cameras proactive into sensors that can detect a threat when it’s happening."

WRAL Investigates got a demonstration of the technology, which just recently launched in Metro Nashville Public Schools and is also in use at schools in Charles County, Maryland.

It is designed to detect weapons that are brandished, as opposed to holstered weapons, so as not to provide false alarms for school resource officers.

One intent is to find those guns in parking lots, before they can make it into the school building.

"For example, at Sandy Hook, the shooter showed up to the front of the school, parked in front of the school ... and walked directly up to the front door, full view of a camera," Green said.

"An active shooter typically is showing up and has their weapon produced," said Kevin Wren, Director of Business Development at A3 Communications, which sells the Omnilert technology among others.

Depending on the preferences of the school system, detecting a weapon could trigger an immediate dispatch of police, or locking all the doors.

"The police would get an image, several images as well as a video clip of what we detected so that they have context of what’s going on when they arrive at the school," Green said.

Wren started his career as a school resource officer and went on to lead security for two school systems prior to his job at A3. He says that while Omnilert is just one piece in the massive puzzle of protecting students, it's a valuable tool.

"Every little second matters," he said. "Because every second, I’m shooting. So, one second could potentially stop who knows how many people from getting shot. That, for me, is a game changer."

Wren said there are schools in North Carolina that are intending to purchase the technology, but they could not say which ones due to client privacy.

Omnilert officials say the technology is also in use at banks, places of worship, hospitals, and large stadiums.

WRAL Investigates has reported extensively on Evolv weapons detectors, used in some local schools.

While Omnilert is very different, Green says it is compatible with Evolv and can be, and is, used in conjunction with that technology to provide a more robust security approach.

An Omnilert representative said it costs about $1,000 a year to monitor one camera, and the price goes down with each subsequent camera added.

"Will this help change lives?" Wren asked. "Absolutely, it has potential."