Hobbs School District uses new AI cameras to detect guns

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – As students, parents and teachers prepare for the upcoming school year, the administration of the Hobbs Municipal School District has worked tirelessly all summer to ensure that they are keeping students safe this year, implementing a new artificial intelligence camera system called Zero Eyes.

Gene Strickland, Superintendent of Hobbs Municipal Schools, said: “This time of year is always an exciting time for everyone, educators as well as parents and students, so it’s a part of our ecosystem that can bring some peace and comfort knowing that we’re providing protection that wasn’t there before and wasn’t available.

It uses existing cameras in the facilities to detect anything that looks like a gun. The images are then sent to dispatchers who review them and alert administration and security on site.

In most active shooting scenarios, it takes several minutes to detect when a weapon is in place. ZeroEyes dispatchers do nothing but wait and watch for suspicious activity, so a potential shooter can be detected and stopped before any shots are fired. The system uses existing cameras in the school, so if the school cameras see anything suspicious, ZeroEyes is too.

ZeroEyes founder Dustin Brooks says, “We wait three to five seconds between alert and verification until the customer receives the alert.”

Once customers receive the alert, law enforcement officers are dispatched to ensure the threat stops there.

Gene Strickland said: “Unfortunately, we have Uvalde to look up to. At the start of this investigation, ZeroEyes, had it been deployed the way we deployed it, this individual would never have had access to our building.

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

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