LEHI, Utah — It was a new security system powered by Artificial Intelligence, not a teacher or school resource officer, that recently flagged a squirt gun as a threat at a Granite School District high school.
While the incident showed AI can be a success when it comes to school security, how much should it be relied upon?
I spoke with retired Utah County Sheriff's Office spokesman Spencer Cannon about the new ZeroEyes security system that now can be found in over 200 schools across Utah.
“It used to be that you could walk into any school, any time of day and just walk anywhere around the school,” said Cannon about why the system was needed.
The days of simply walking into any school are long gone. In a time when mass shootings remain a national concern, many like Cannon see ZeroEyes as a step forward.
“It’s a different world, and we have to take precautions and take protective measures in place to identify threats that might be there as early as we possibly can,” he added.
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ZeroEyes officials said the system is proactive to identify a gun before shots are fired, leveraging historical information and knowing that in the vast majority of cases, the shooting actually happens outdoors before it moves indoors
“We’re detecting guns where they shouldn’t be," explained ZeroEyes cofounder Sam Alaimo. "We’ve had detections in the past of AK-47s outside of elementary schools, we have Glocks on subway platforms. We have AR assault rifles in parking lots, and the goal is to identify this gun before a shot is fired. And we’re doing this every single week at this point.”
The system has made its way into schools, public buildings, and transportation hubs across the state with support from local officials and concerned parents
“It’s a different world, and we have to take precautions and take protective measures in place to identify threats that might be there as early as we possibly can,” explained Cannon.
During the 2023 legislative session, state lawmakers passed the bill to increase school safety, allowing the Utah State Board of Education to choose ZeroEyes.
The expansion of the technology hasn’t come without criticism.
“You certainly don’t want to take away people’s right to freedom and right to movement," said Cannon, "but I think there are very few people who would argue against additional security.”
