ZeroEyes, creators of the only AI-based gun detection video analytics platform, recently announced that its platform has been deployed by the city of Hobbs, N.M., to protect citizens against gun-related threats.
The city chose ZeroEyes after closely evaluating the company’s successful work with Hobbs Municipal School District, where the platform has been deployed for over a year. The City of Hobbs has a 60-month professional services contract for a subscription service with ZeroEyes. The subscription renews annually and the annual cost of the service is $22,500, an emal from Commications Director Meghan Mooney said.
ZeroEyes’ visual gun detection and intelligent situational awareness software will be layered on Hobbs’ existing digital security cameras. If an illegally brandished gun is identified, images will instantly be shared with a specialized group of U.S. military and law enforcement veterans at one of the ZeroEyes Operation Centers (ZOC) that are staffed 24/7/365. These experts are trained to verify the threat and dispatch alerts and actionable intelligence, including visual description, gun type and last known location, to local staff and law enforcement as fast as 3 to 5 seconds from detection.
Hobbs, NM is a town of over 40,000 people. Currently, Hobbs has 19 schools in the district, which includes a combination of elementary, middle, and high schools. ZeroEyes is utilized in all Hobbs Municipal Schools.
“We believe the implementation of ZeroEyes within the general public will help deter and reduce crimes involving firearms,” said Reanna Alarcon, public information and community relations officer, Hobbs Police Department. “We would like to thank the City of Hobbs for investing in this program and the additional protection for the citizens we serve.”
Hobbs Police Department Sgt. Brendan Ingley, who supervises the Eagle Intelligence Center, said the school system has used ZeroEyes for more than a year. During a meeting with city commissioners and the city manager, how it works and what it does came up.
It is staffed by four officers on day and night shift. They cover roughly 20 hours a day, but still get calls during the hours between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. when they come back in, Ingley said.
Ingley said they thought it was a neat concept to look into and a good idea for the parks, city buildings and other public offices. It’s been live for about a week and has detected some Airsoft and BB guns, but it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.
“It doesn’t hit on someone legally carrying a firearm. It doesn’t hit on someone carrying it in a holster, or a gun that’s put (away). It only detects firearms that are out in a manner that they shouldn’t be; being pointed at someone; being brandished. It’s one of those tools that we decided to look into and go with after we saw the success of what it was (having) at the schools,” he added.
Ingley said Hobbs is just like any other city in the country right now in terms of gun violence and ZeroEyes is a tool that they felt could help the city be proactive. He said you can’t put a price on the safety of the public and children.
They still have officers out on the street, however.
“This is monitored from what’s known as RTCC, or a real time crime center. There are three or four crime centers in the state that are basically staffed by officers. We … oversee the city, if you will … with a number of cameras. We have access to the school cameras from in here. We have cameras in the parks and intersections, city hall; anywhere …,” Ingley said.
They also have viewer access to monitor schools, so if anything happens, the police department is watching it as they get the call.
“I know we’re one of the first cities in this area, probably this part of the state or even in Texas to go to something like this,” Ingley said. “We tried to get ahead of the game years ago with gunshot recognition … that would report gunshots. We would get calls and focus on that area, but it wasn’t very effective. It wasn’t always accurate — fireworks and … sometimes gunshots, but it wasn’t accurate. This is newer technology …”
The software picks up on what it believes to be a firearm. That is relayed to ZeroEyes dispatch and then ZeroEyes makes a determination as to if what they are looking at is this real; if it’s a toy; or a water gun.
“… The calls we’ve … responded to were based off what their human interaction on their end saw and believed to actually be a firearm. It has been an Airsoft gun, a BB gun; we’ve got a couple of longer Airsoft rifles that they detected and of course we respond to them … The officers assigned to this division are watching what ZeroEyes is able to see via the cameras from in here as well, so we’re giving that information out real time to our officers … They’re not going into stuff, per se, as blind. We’ve got eyes on what ZeroEyes had the hit on … then we’re actually tracking, watching and giving that information to our officers as they respond,” Ingley said.
Mike Lahiff, CEO and co-founder of ZeroEyes, said in a news release that criminals have become increasingly emboldened over the past few years.
“With ZeroEyes deployed throughout the city of Hobbs, law enforcement will receive not just an immediate warning any time a gun is illegally brandished, but actionable intelligence so they know exactly what kind of situation they are walking into. In active shooter scenarios, this kind of situational awareness can mean the difference between life and death,” Lahiff said in the release.
To learn more about ZeroEyes, visit ZeroEyes.com.
