BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - – Artificial intelligence may have a new place at Brevard County Public Schools, and its job is to stop shootings before they start.
Tuesday, the school board listened to a presentation from ZeroEyes, a company founded by a team of Navy SEALs following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. They developed technology that pairs artificial intelligence software with existing surveillance cameras to detect weapons.
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During a demonstration, the ZeroEyes software picked up visuals of guns as soon as they were displayed. ZeroEyes staff verify each alert before district staff and local law enforcement are then notified.
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“You’re essentially getting a bread crumb trail, so you don’t only know where they’ve been, but where they’re going and also that last known position,” said J.T. Wilkins, senior vice president of sales.
The technology is already in use at districts in Central Florida. Seminole County Public Schools has used it since 2021. They now have thousands of cameras in use.
Our News 6 cameras were invited to see the pilot program launch at Oviedo High School. The district provided the following statement about the weapon detection system when asked by News 6 how they continue to get results:
Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, Department of School Safety, has explored weapon detection (artificial intelligence and machine learning) since 2016 as part of its holistic layered approach to school safety and security.
After a robust beta test in 2021, we started using ZeroEyes in our high schools. We have since transitioned the ZeroEyes technology to our public primary and secondary schools throughout the county.
ZeroEyes delivers a proactive, human-verified visual gun detection solution that integrates into our existing digital security cameras to help us mitigate an active threat. The technology is a force multiplier, and offers increased situational awareness through advanced active threat detection analytics and automated threat alerting.
This technology, coupled with a highly trained school resource officer on our campuses and other school
Chief Rick Francis, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
Officials with Brevard Public Schools did not make any decisions Tuesday about whether or not they will implement the ZeroEyes system.
Megan Wright who represents District 1 said safety is a priority.
“If we can’t ensure your children are going to go home every day, I don’t want to have your children in our schools, and my own children are in our schools. So, I feel very passionate about security measures,” Wright said.
The ZeroEyes system does provide real-time information of the person, weapon, and location, but it is critical to get that information into the hands of law enforcement.
The district stressed that it is simply an additional tool, and they are always looking for other layers of security that can be added.
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