Last year alone, more than 40,000 people were killed by gun violence. In many cases, the gunman walked freely onto a campus or into a building and began firing before any action was taken to mitigate the situation. Why? Because these was. no advance warning and these events are terrifying and people – including security personnel – are scared for their lives. Not to mention that in the rare event security teams are assigned to monitor surveillance cameras, they can’t possibly monitor more than a few cameras at a time, and even then, the statistics show they will miss 95% of activity after just 22 minutes. Additionally, facilities have anywhere from 10 to thousands of cameras. This is where AI visual gun detection has become a game changer!
When integrated with cameras inside and outside a facility, the AI system can identify a weapon in a fraction of a second. A monitoring service or internal security team can then verify that threat in a few seconds more and automatically activate a response that can include dispatching police, locking doors, sounding alarms and automating other responses designed to save lives. No matter how many cameras a facility has, the system can monitor every single one simultaneously 24/7/365 and never gets tired or distracted.
This is amazing right? That is what our customers tell us. And then we get to tell them, “But we also provide situational intelligence throughout the whole event.” Say what?
Situational Intelligence – The Key to Successful Outcome
While being able to spot a weapon as soon as it’s visible and then having the system automatically initiate a robust response is key, what happens after first responders arrive is just as critical. If you review some of the more recent high profile mass shooting incidents in United States, such as Uvalde or Nashville, police arrived completely in the dark as to where the shooter was located, what they looked like or the weapon they were using. With situational intelligence delivered directly from Omnilert Gun Detect, police would have arrived knowing key life-saving information, such as:
- Where the shooter is located
- Where they are headed
- What type of gun they have
- What they look like
- If they are alone or with another gunman
This means no more running from floor to floor looking for the shooter like they did in Nashville, or a fear of entering the building like we saw at Uvalde. With situational intelligence, first responders are empowered before they even arrive and this information flows to them for the entire event. This insight can drastically change the outcome of an active shooter incident and can save lives in the process. One of the key features that enables this is Omnilert’s unique ability to send both text images and video of the shooter – something that sets itself apart from its competitors. The ability to send a video snippet provides a level of context that simply can’t be matched with still images alone.
No More “Fearing for Your Life” With a Lack of Information
In many recent active shooter incidents at schools and universities, students and staff have had to shelter in place, sometimes for hours, because police are searching for the shooter. We wrote about this in another blog by highlighting an incident at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill when an active shooter came onto campus and it took 90 minutes for the shooter to be arrested. Having real-time intelligence during this event could have directed police to apprehend the suspect much faster because they would have known where he was located. In fact, the mass communication capabilities of Omnilert's notification system, or many other ENS systems we integrate with, would allow you to group people based on their location so the right information can be communicated to each group throughout an entire active shooter event.
Varying groups can be communicated with independently and even further subdivided to allow everyone to receive the information needed to safeguard them best. For example, people within a specific group can receive personalized instructions guiding them to safety (e.g. “Move to the west” or “Leave via the North Elevator”), while another group can be sent different instructions (e.g. “Shelter in place” or “Help is on the way”). In fact, having precise information on the shooter’s location can allow security teams to provide safe evacuation routes to those located in areas further away from the shooter. This is all possible when you have actionable intelligence and connect your varying safety systems together.
Putting it All Together: Detection, Verification, Activation, Notification
Dealing with an active shooter situation requires much more than just detection and verification. And that is why Omnilert designed its system with a unique combination of detection, verification, activation and notification. This is what can ultimately make the difference between an incident of gun violence or a mass shooting
To learn more about how Omnilert Gun Detect’s situational intelligence can transform an active shooter incident, refer to these resources: