How gun-detection technology promises to help prevent mass shootings

[Elderberry]

Fast Company by By DJ Pangburn 8/23/2019

New tech firms are leveraging artificial intelligence to identify firearms and alert law enforcement within seconds—but they face plenty of practical challenges.

Even after the back-to-back mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso, and the fact that a solid majority of Americans support expanded gun control, the issue is at as much of a stalemate as ever. And while a legislative solution may be far off, potential technological solutions are coming to the fore. Enter companies like Aegis AI and Athena Security, new tech firms leveraging artificial intelligence to identify firearms and alert law enforcement within seconds.

While the recent mass shootings seem an obvious application of gun-detection technology, combating the more frequent gun violence in American cities is likely just as important to law enforcement. Founded by Lisa Falzone and Chris Ciabarra, cofounders of Revel Systems, Athena grew out of a desire to do something good for the world. After growing Revel Systems to a half-billion-dollar valuation, and selling it to a private equity firm, Falzone says that she and Ciabarra grew weary of retirement. Around the time of the Las Vegas and Stoneman Douglas shootings, the two realized that mass shootings were being recorded by cameras and that a layer of artificial intelligence could be added to these systems to yield what Falzone calls an “interactive proactive tool” to fight mass shootings and other gun crimes.

Athena Security uses object-motion detection to spot when an individual brandishes a fireman, and immediately send an alert to their client, whether that’s a private security firm or local law enforcement. The company’s AI object-motion detection is camera agnostic, meaning it can work on any CCTV system. When a gun is detected, the video feed of the active shooter is made available to the client both on mobile devices and desktop computers, allowing officers to know what they are dealing with and where it is happening, all in the space of three seconds, according to Falzone.

Currently, Athena Security is in use by a number SWAT teams, Fortune 500 companies, the Al-Noor Christchurch mosque in New Zealand (the site of a religiously-motivated act of domestic terrorism last March), as well as by schools and governments. Falzone says that Athena Security is currently deploying its software on existing camera systems for its clients.

“We send an alert to e-911 and then they have that link and see exactly what’s going on during the crime,” Falzone explains. “Lots of police forces have tested the technology, the results of which are detailed in the white paper. We’ve created a really accurate algorithm to achieve over 99% accuracy.”
Every second matters

Falzone is right to say that every second matters. The Dayton shooter, Connor Betts, needed less than 20 seconds—the amount of time it took police to respond to the scene—to murder nine people and injure over a dozen more.

“The way that police get information right now is through a lot of panic: People calling 911, and the police thought it was multiple stores and they had no idea where the shooter was, and it took a long time to find the shooter,” she says. “Giving the police accurate information is so critical to response time. So, even if you do detect a gun that a shooter is firing, every second counts. If you can get police there 30 seconds faster, or even seconds faster, those are lives saved.”

Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit started by former legislator and current gun control advocate Gabbie Giffords, sees promise in gun-detection technology, but also challenges. David Chipman, senior policy advisor at Giffords Law Center, and a former ATF agent and consultant at ShotSpotter (a gunfire locator product), says that gun- and shot-detection technologies are similar to technologies used to detect fires.

“I think the argument could be made that as a society we value private property more than we value public safety and the safety of human life,” says Chipman, who also worked as a gun control advocate in former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration. “Now that we’re having a different kind of debate or conversation where people are clearly saying that no level of gun violence is appropriate. We have to have technologies that help police prevent crimes instead of respond to it after the fact.”

Chipman envisions gun-detection camera systems being implemented in spaces, both public and private, where governments and businesses want to protect people. He characterizes such systems as “metal detectors 3.0″—ones that could be used in places like schools, sports stadiums, and malls to help react more quickly to shooters. And Chipman sees this technology being useful beyond the prevention of mass shootings. Chipman thinks gun-detection systems would be invaluable in hot spots for urban gun violence, where most people neither see nor hear a gunshot and where any witnesses might be unlikely to report a crime to police anyway.

More: https://www.fastcompany.com/90388822/how-gun-detection-technology-promises-to-help-prevent-mass-shootings

[Joe Wooten]

Chicago has been using this tech on the South and West sides for several years and it has not stopped the shootings there. Another utopian dream of the libs has become another source of corruption. It is the red light cameras with no city revenue as a side benefit.

[verga]

Chicago has been using this tech on the South and West sides for several years and it has not stopped the shootings there. Another utopian dream of the libs has become another source of corruption. It is the red light cameras with no city revenue as a side benefit.

Yeah, but it makes them feel good to "Just do something"

[Elderberry]

Chicago has been using this tech on the South and West sides for several years and it has not stopped the shootings there. Another utopian dream of the libs has become another source of corruption. It is the red light cameras with no city revenue as a side benefit.

Are you sure its the same system? I know several cities use microphones to triangulate where shots are fired from, like the ShotSpotter system.

Dozens of cities across the U.S.—including Chicago—use a gun detection technology called  ShotSpotter, which can identify when and where a shot was fired based on machine-learning algorithms that analyze sound. The goal is to reduce response times and alert authorities at the moment of an incident.

[Joe Wooten]

Are you sure its the same system? I know several cities use microphones to triangulate where shots are fired from, like the ShotSpotter system.

Yes, it is ShotSpotter, but this new system will have the exact same results. Second City Cop is pretty comptemptous of the system and the goals the politicians have for it. By the time the cops get there, all they can do is start cleaning up the mess left by the gangbangers.

[Drago]

They could use these systems to confirm that there are enough concealed carry people in any given area to help prevent mass shootings. Gun-free zones are very dangerous!

[thackney]

They could use these systems to confirm that there are enough concealed carry people in any given area to help prevent mass shootings. Gun-free zones are very dangerous!

Those are not going to be detected by a camera.

[Drago]

I thought this was a “new & improved” gun detection system?  Can be defeated by a trench coat? Not even as good as a metal detector? Guess I’ll have to read the article! ;-)