With mass shootings happening all too frequently in the US, businesses, especially those at which large numbers of people gather, are looking for ways to secure their facilities.
Nobody wants oppressive security systems and too much law enforcement presence, though. This is why Las Vegas casinos are interested in a technology called ZeroEyes, which uses AI to detect weapons.
Unfortunately, because of Nevada law, they cannot implement the ZeroEyes system.
Key Highlights
- ZeroEyes uses AI to spot firearms quickly and alert law enforcement.
- Muskogee Nation Gaming Enterprise uses the technology in Oklahoma.
- Company technicians oversee security monitors, which is not permitted in Nevada.
- ZeroEyes has limitations, including the inability to detect concealed weapons.
Fast, Automated Firearms Detection
According to the ZeroEyes website, the system connects to a facility’s existing security cameras and monitors to scan the premises.
It compares images it sees with a massive database of guns, focusing on the types that are most used in mass shootings, like pistols and AR-style rifles.
When it detects a possible firearm, a technician at the ZeroEyes Operations Center reviews the image. Once the gun is verified, ZeroEyes alerts law enforcement within three to five seconds.
Used Effectively in Oklahoma
Muskogee Nation Gaming Enterprise’s Director of Compliance, Travis Thompson, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that his property in Tulsa is likely the first casino in the country to install the ZeroEyes system.
The combination of a shooting at a nearby Tulsa hospital and the Route 91 Harvest music festival tragedy in Las Vegas, the largest mass shooting by one individual in US history, caused Muskogee officials to investigate ways to prevent similar incidents.
They wanted any system to be as low-profile as possible, though, and not require patrons to walk through metal detectors.
“ZeroEyes at the time kind of fit our bill of what we were looking for,” Thompson said.
Oklahoma Casino Happy With Tech
But while ZeroEyes has worked for Thompson and Muskogee Nation, it is not allowed in Nevada casinos.
As mentioned earlier, a ZeroEyes technician watches over the system and security monitors. Nevada regulations do not allow third-parties to monitor casinos’ security cameras, thus disqualifying ZeroEyes.
….when you talk about analytics of this type, it’s nearly impossible for human eyes, when they’re monitoring multiple cameras, to even pick any of this stuff up
– Joel Kisner, founder of Pinnacle Consulting and Advisors
Joel Kisner, founder of Pinnacle Consulting and Advisors and a former Las Vegas police officer, told the Review-Journal that another possible issue is that, as quick as ZeroEyes supposedly is in identifying weapons, there is still a delay while the technician verifies everything.
Security officers likely would not want to wait to take action. Kisner said, though, that a system like ZeroEyes could definitely help.
“They have some limitations to how those analytics work, but generally speaking, when you talk about analytics of this type, it’s nearly impossible for human eyes, when they’re monitoring multiple cameras, to even pick any of this stuff up,” he explained.
System Still Has Holes
ZeroEyes is not perfect, though. It will not spot every weapon, even sometimes when someone is holding one out in the open.
“Maybe there’s resolution issues. There’s blending of the background, so like a black gun over black clothing,” Kisner said. “ZeroEyes has issues with when a gun is pointed at a 90-degree angle at one of the cameras, it has a hard time picking that up because it doesn’t have enough features in the gun and the smaller the gun, the harder it is to get the alert.”
And, as the ZeroEyes website says, the system has no ability to detect concealed weapons. So someone can still bring a gun into a casino hidden under a jacket or stashed in a bag. It is not until they take it out that ZeroEyes can spot it.
There are false positives, as well, though ZeroEyes does not say how often they occur.
The company assures that facial recognition is not part of the system. It only seeks out weapons. The only time a face would be recorded would be in an active shooter situation.
Sources
https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/could-gun-detection-system-in-oklahoma-be-used-in-nevada-casinos-3190698
https://zeroeyes.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Las_Vegas_shooting
