Schools in New Jersey will now be protected by AI that proactively looks for signs of weapons on campuses.
The Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District has partnered with ZeroEyes in an effort to keep students and staff safe.
The district controls Absegami, Cedar Creek and Oakcrest High Schools with students coming from six townships in Southern New Jersey.
Officials from the district explained that the students come from varying backgrounds so there is a mix of rural to suburban neighborhoods.
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We consider relationship building between our security guards, armed SROs and students to be critical to security, because if the kids know and trust us, they'll tell us if anybody is threatening to bring a gun to school," superintendent of Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District James Reina said. "If an SRO is locked in a room all day watching cameras, they're not creating relationships with the community."
The gun detection software from ZeroEyes will be paired with the security cameras already installed throughout the school district.
If the system detects a gun or a weapon, the image will be shared with the workers at the ZeroEyes Operations Center which is staffed at all times with veterans of the U.S. military and law enforcement.
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Once it is reviewed by the ZeroEyes workers, and a potential weapon or threat is confirmed, the alert will be sent to staff at the school as well as local first responders. Officials say this will happen in as little as 5 seconds from the detection.
"We are proud that our proactive solution has been chosen to complement and bolster the district's multi-layered security approach," CEO and co-founder of ZeroEyes Mike Lahiff said.
The Greater Egg Harbor Regional School District isn't the only local district using ZeroEyes. Rancocas Valley High School in Mount Holly has been using the software to keep their campuses safe for the last several years.
ZeroEyes is the only AI-based company to hold the United States Department of Homeland Security SAFETY Act Designation.
