The eyes have it

AI system could protect schools, students

This year will mark the 40th anniversary of Rockwell’s paranoia-inspired rock song, featuring Michael Jackson on the title-invoking chorus, “I always feel like somebody’s watching me.” Kids born that year might well be the parents of today’s public school students.

But today’s students might relate to the song’s sentiment. They’ve grown up in an age when everyone carries a camera, capable of still photos and video, in their pockets. And as efforts to batten down the hatches at public schools have intensified in an age of school shootings, security cameras have become almost as common as textbooks.

No, scratch that. They’re probably more ubiquitous than textbooks, which have given way to digital publications.

Security cameras are a go-to resource for schools, but do they really deter shootings? As we’ve seen in far too many school shootings (because how many wouldn’t be too many?), security cameras mostly give school administrators and law enforcement a way to document what happened after the fact. That knowledge undoubtedly helps to inform and inspire defensive strategies for schools as yet unscathed, but the existence of such dramatic and heartrending videos is evidence their deterrent effect isn’t foolproof.

But what if those cameras could be more informative before any shooting begins?

The Fort Smith School District is considering a $156,000 annual contract with a company called ZeroEyes that offers a weapon detection system using the video cameras the district already has installed. How? Thank (or curse) artificial intelligence.

This sounds like a use of AI worth being thankful for. Within school facilities, the system can detect the presence of a weapon and send the video footage to experts for evaluation. Confirmation would put a building into immediate lockdown mode. That can save lives.

A company representative says the system led to 10 arrests nationwide of people with weapons being used in threatening ways. Their promotional material touts the value of responding to threats at a camera’s first glimpse of a gun rather than waiting until shots are fired.

Should people be concerned about privacy? Here’s a perspective to keep in mind: These cameras are already documenting the comings and goings of everyday school activities. At least in the way the company and school officials describe it, that won’t change. What promises to be different, though, is the video system’s capacity to serve as an early warning, perhaps before anyone is harmed, rather than just a system that captures the carnage and becomes evidence.

In other words, this system is like having someone with really sharp eyes monitoring video that’s already being recorded. And when it sees something, it says something.

As pitched, the ZeroEyes system appears to introduce a much better chance for early intervention than standard practices using the same cameras. Even if someone is assigned to watch the camera views live (unlikely), the number of cameras and the chaotic conditions of everyday school life make the odds of catching a glimpse of a firearm’s presence slim.

Seconds count, emergency services professionals say. And we believe them.

In Fort Smith, this new system, as long as it can deliver on what it promises, is worth trying.

Who’s watching?

Tell me, who’s watching? Who’s watching me? — Rockwell, 1984