Hobbs school district using new AI cameras to detect guns

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - As students, parents, and faculty prepare for the upcoming school year, Hobbs Municipal School District administration has been working tirelessly all summer to make sure they keep students safe this yea, implementing a new artificial intelligence camera system called ZeroEyes.

Gene Strickland, Superintendent of Hobbs Municipal Schools, says, ”This time of year is always an exciting time for everybody, educators as well including parents and students, so this is a piece of our ecosystem that can bring some peace and comfort knowing that we’re providing protection that previously didn’t exist and wasn’t available.”

It uses existing cameras in facilities to detect anything that resembles a gun. The footage is then sent to dispatchers who review it and alert administration and security on scene.

In most active shooter scenarios, it takes several minutes to detect when a gun is on scene. ZeroEyes dispatchers do nothing but wait and watch for suspicious activity, so a potential gunman can be detected and stopped before any shots are fired. The system uses existing cameras within the school, so if school cameras are seeing something suspicious, so is ZeroEyes.

ZeroEyes Founder Dustin Brooks says, “We’re looking at three to five seconds from alert to verification to client receiving the alert.”

After clients receive the alert, law enforcement officers are dispatched to make sure the threat ends there.

Gene Strickland says, “Unfortunately, we do have Uvalde to look at as an example. In the early stages of that investigation, ZeroEyes, had it been deployed in the manner in which we have it deployed, that individual would have never gained access to our building.”

Hobbs Municipal Schools has strategically placed ZeroEyes in over 40% of their cameras district wide to prevent a mass shooting from occurring.

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