The number of active shooting incidents in schools is escalating. Not only did 2022 break the record for the most school shootings in over four decades, but firearms are now the number one cause of death for children in the U.S., exceeding motor vehicle deaths. Clearly, we need a better way of keeping our students and staff safe and it’s going to take a multi-layered approach with multiple technologies working together to ensure our schools have the protection they need.

While there are various technologies available to help prevent and minimize active shooter incidents, this article will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) visual gun detection, which is being steadily adopted by schools around the country such as Metro Nashville Public Schools, Charles County Public Schools, Baltimore County Schools and many others. AI visual gun detection is a software system that works with existing cameras already in place at schools and once installed, it can spot a weapon in less than a second. When that weapon is human verified, the software can then instantly and automatically initiate a robust response such as lock doors, sound alarms, call police and notify staff. And one of the most important aspects of this technology is that it does not matter if a district or university has 10 or 10,000 cameras – the software can monitor every single one simultaneously, 24/7.

Best Practices for Schools Looking at Gun Detection

Today, school districts in every single state in the country are either currently deploying or evaluating how to integrate AI visual gun detection into their schools. While the technology itself is fairly straightforward to integrate with a school’s existing cameras, there are best practices that should be followed to not only help the process goes smoothly, but also ensure the school gets the right solution for their situation:

• Pick the Solution that Works for Your Needs – This was a hot topic in a recent webinar focused on gun detection technologies for schools.  As a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pointed out, “There is no one size fits all.”  Schools need to consider a wide variety of factors such as the building’s physical layout, local jurisdictional requirements and the technology’s long-term sustainability.

• Make Sure it Works with Your Existing Systems – Most schools have already invested in a security infrastructure and it’s important to find a vendor that has done the work to integrate to the systems already in place. This best utilizes funds already spent and will make the process of installing and deploying so much easier.

• Don’t Stop at Detection and Verification – A quick and effective response after a weapon has been detected and verified is what changes outcomes of an active shooter incident.  That is why it’s so important to make sure your AI visual gun detection solution does it all – from detection and verification to activation and notification.  To better understand how AI visual gun detection can help ensure the most successful outcomes, review what should happen in the event an active shooter comes on campus: 
  • An active shooter walks up to a facility and pulls out a gun as they approach. If a camera is located and focused on outside perimeters, the system could detect a firearm before they entered the building. Otherwise, it would fall to the interior cameras to identify the gun once it became visible. 
     
  • In under a second, an AI-powered visual gun detection platform can identify a visible gun and send an alert to a designated person, team or professional monitoring service. The alert would contain a still image, a detailed view of the gun detection, video snippet and details of the shooter location and camera. 
     
  • Once the designated team confirms the active shooter threat, they can then initiate a series of actions immediately from either their safety systems, mobile device or computer. These actions are predetermined in the planning process and could include calling first responders, locking doors and sending emergency notifications to people in the area. The software can even deliver situational intelligence information to first responders, providing exact information on where the shooter is at any given time. Instead of running into a school with no actionable information, police can now know exactly where to go and they can also provide evacuation routes and other communication to staff and students who are likely quietly hiding, fearing for their lives. 

Lessons Learned: How AI Visual Gun Detection Could Have Helped the Nashville Shooting

To understand the impact that AI visual gun detection could have in an active shooter incident, let’s look at the events that took place at the Covenant School grounds in Nashville in March 2023. According to reports, the exterior school cameras were able to film the shooter’s car and then interior cameras caught the gunman shooting school doors at the entrance into the building and recorded the subsequent search of the interior.

It is likely that one of these exterior cameras also captured the shooter as they walked up towards the entrance with a gun in full sight. However, all this camera footage was reviewed after the event, and not utilized in real time. With AI visual gun detection, the gun and shooter could have been first detected as they approached the school building, immediately alerting police and those inside the school. The cameras would help initiate life-saving actions in real time, not used for informational purposes after the fact.
 
We also saw from police body cam footage that first responders were racing from floor to floor and room to room looking for the gunman.  AI visual gun detection technology could have provided real-time location information to first responders and as well as safe evacuation routes to staff and students based on knowing exactly where the shooter was each moment.

It Takes a Village to Keep Schools Safe

As I mentioned at the start of this article, keeping our students and staff safe from active shooters requires a layered approach. AI visual gun detection is an important layer, and this may be complemented with other security solutions such as metal detectors and onsite security personnel. Each school needs to evaluate their own situation to make sure they have the solutions that will work best for them. The good news is that these offerings are now available, and they are effective. As they are adopted by more schools around the country – and even around the world – we can turn the alarming gun violence stats around and ensure that tragedies like Sandy Hook, Parkland, Uvalde and Nashville never happen again.

You can learn more about different gun detection systems and technologies in this blog.

The author, Mark Franken, is Vice President of Marketing for Omnilert.