NYPD considers possibility of AI being able to ‘see’ guns underground

Metro

by Tina Moore

Cameras powered by artificial intelligence could alert authorities when a gun is drawn on the city’s subways, and the New York Police Department is keeping an eye on the technology, officials said.

New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry told NY1 that the technology could be a way to thwart weapons following last week’s shooting on an A train in Brooklyn.

“I’m looking at technology that can take current cameras and use them in real subway systems and integrate them with technology that can detect weapons,” he said.

When asked by the Post about AI camera technology, the NYPD said it “continues to investigate what technologies are available.” The NYPD does not have a timeline at this time. ”

Gun-detection AI attempts to alert authorities “before the first shot is fired,” says Sam Alaimo, one of the co-founders of ZeroEyes, a company that runs the software in public places across the country. he said.

ZeroEyes, located in the Philadelphia area, trains algorithms to detect when a firearm is drawn.

You won’t see it stuffed into your bag or tucked into your waistband.

The software works with existing digital cameras in schools, government agencies, transit systems, and other organizations.

Company officials said its analysts monitor a blank screen that only activates if a gun is detected.

If analysts determine that the item is a weapon, they will alert authorities directly.

“From the moment a gun appears in front of a surveillance camera within about three to five seconds, end users, schools, subways, military bases, shopping malls and grocery stores will receive that alert,” Alaimo said. Ta. .

They will also have “a photo of the shooter, the exact location of the shooter, and the exact time the shooter was there.”

The notification should also make it easier for law enforcement to manage the scene once they arrive, he said.

One senior police official said he believed the technology would be useful, but that criminals would find ways to stop it.

“The reality is that once the information is disseminated to the general public, we can rest assured that criminals will find a way around it,” the source said.

Another person said the city plans to test the technology in 2023, but the subway cameras were “extremely substandard.”

Noah MacLean, a professor at California’s Santa Clara University who studies the city’s underground, said, “There are very few opportunities to actually see footage of a singular entity exempt from a sleepy station during sleepy hours.” ” he said.

“You could put a camera in that environment and detect something that looks like a handgun, but you would end up with a huge number of false negatives and false positives,” he said. I did.