One of America's Biggest Markets for AI-Powered Security Cameras: Schools (latimes.com) 56
New video analytics systems can "identify people, suspicious behavior and guns" in real-time, and the technology is being used by Fortune 500 companies, stadiums, retailers, and police departments, reports the Los Angeles Times.
But schools are "among the most enthusiastic adopters," they note, citing an interview with Paul Hildreth, the "emergency operations coordinator" at an Atlanta school district A year after an expelled student killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Broward County installed cameras from Avigilon of Canada throughout the district in February. Hildreth's Atlanta district will spend $16.5 million to put the cameras in its roughly 100 buildings in coming years. In Greeley, Colo., the school district has used Avigilon cameras for about five years, and the technology has advanced rapidly, said John Tait, security manager for Weld County School District 6...
Schools are the largest market for video surveillance systems in the U.S., estimated at $450 million in 2018, according to IHS Markit, a London data and information services company. The overall market for real-time video analytics was estimated at $3.2 billion worldwide in 2018 -- and it's expected to grow to $9 billion by 2023, according to one estimate... Shannon Flounnory, executive director for safety and security for Fulton County Schools, said no privacy concerns have been heard there. "The events of Parkland kind of changed the game," he said. "We have not had any arguments or any pushback right now...."
One company, Athena Security, has cameras that spot when someone has a weapon. And in a bid to help retailers, it recently expanded its capabilities to help identify big spenders when they visit a store... Both ZeroEyes and Athena Security in Austin, Texas, say their systems can detect weapons with more than 90% accuracy, but acknowledge their products haven't been tested in a real-life scenario. And both systems are unable to detect weapons if they're covered -- a limitation the companies say they are working to overcome.
But schools are "among the most enthusiastic adopters," they note, citing an interview with Paul Hildreth, the "emergency operations coordinator" at an Atlanta school district A year after an expelled student killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Broward County installed cameras from Avigilon of Canada throughout the district in February. Hildreth's Atlanta district will spend $16.5 million to put the cameras in its roughly 100 buildings in coming years. In Greeley, Colo., the school district has used Avigilon cameras for about five years, and the technology has advanced rapidly, said John Tait, security manager for Weld County School District 6...
Schools are the largest market for video surveillance systems in the U.S., estimated at $450 million in 2018, according to IHS Markit, a London data and information services company. The overall market for real-time video analytics was estimated at $3.2 billion worldwide in 2018 -- and it's expected to grow to $9 billion by 2023, according to one estimate... Shannon Flounnory, executive director for safety and security for Fulton County Schools, said no privacy concerns have been heard there. "The events of Parkland kind of changed the game," he said. "We have not had any arguments or any pushback right now...."
One company, Athena Security, has cameras that spot when someone has a weapon. And in a bid to help retailers, it recently expanded its capabilities to help identify big spenders when they visit a store... Both ZeroEyes and Athena Security in Austin, Texas, say their systems can detect weapons with more than 90% accuracy, but acknowledge their products haven't been tested in a real-life scenario. And both systems are unable to detect weapons if they're covered -- a limitation the companies say they are working to overcome.
Give it some time (Score:5, Insightful)
Right now these capabilities are available in high-end camera systems. Give it time, and you'll see the same features appearing in low-cost home surveillance cameras. In a decade at the most, habitual criminals won't be able to walk down any residential street in the U.S. without being flagged and identified by a dozen cameras every block.
Right now you can buy a $19 Wyze cam that will alert you if a human figure crosses its field of view. Guess how many people will want to buy one of those cameras when they can also do facial recognition, or can identify someone carrying a weapon, or someone wearing a mask? Just give it a few years.
People want to be safe. They want their families and their homes and possessions to be secure. If they believe that the authorities are failing to protect them, they'll take steps to protect themselves. That is the primary driver in the growth of surveillance technology, not government spying.
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Over time I've come to realize that the government is too inept to do anything useful with anything. Government trust is at an all time low, so is crime, yet the media is whipping people up into a frenzy about guns and dangerous people because they have both lost touch with reality and lost the trust of the people.
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Most governments can do basic things to keep them in power. A central one at this time is creating and maintaining fear, because then a large majority of people will lose all rationality and flock to the next "strong man" in the hopes that he will fix it. (In reality he will be deeply involved with the problem....)
Other than that, I tend to agree. Although I think the Chinese will get a real surveillance society going and they may be willing to sell that tech and know-how to the US and others.
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People want these things because they are kept in fear
I have security cameras in the house so that I can watch my cats while I'm out of the house.
They're very cute and they miss me :(
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Re: Give it some time (Score:2)
Or like when a black person is in the âoewrong" neighborhood? This is what happens when people are constantly being told to be afraid of everything.
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Even better for hedge funds (Score:2)
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In a decade at the most, habitual criminals won't be able to walk down any residential street in the U.S. without being flagged and identified by a dozen cameras every block.
Neither will innocent citizens.
Guns & schools (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Guns & schools (Score:4, Insightful)
Can anyone name another country where guns & schools are so regularly mentioned in the same sentence?
Just because something is mentioned frequently, doesn't mean it is common. A child is far more likely to be shot at home.
Likewise, you often hear about "assault weapons", but they account for about 2% of shootings, while handguns account for 85%.
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Re: Guns & schools (Score:1)
Re: Guns & schools (Score:2)
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a) .223 vs 5.56mm
b) semi-only vs select-fire
Only differences I'm aware of
Re: Guns & schools (Score:2)
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Assault weapons, however, get the most attention in mass shootings.
That was my point. We pay way too much attention the 2% corner cases and way too little attention to the other 98%.
In many cases, that attention is actually counter-productive. If restrictions on "assault weapons" means people buy handguns instead of rifles or shotguns, the result is almost certainly going to be more gun deaths, since handguns are proportionally more likely to be used in a homicide or suicide.
The same is true for the attention on public mass shootings. They are a tiny fraction of shootin
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That's a logic fail.
Plus, a shotgun is not an assault weapon in the way people use the term.
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Suicides are painless but plentiful [turner.com], as well.
2.1% - Accident
38.4% - Homicide
59.5% - Suicide
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Handgun owners are proportionally more likely to use them to kill themselves than rifle or shotgun owners.
Also, suicides rates are rising in America, while falling nearly everywhere else in the world.
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You do realize that it's not an either-or choice to own a handgun or long arm. Gun owners often own both, and may simply have a preference for handguns when it comes to suicides.
Also, suicides rates are rising in America, while falling nearly everywhere else in the world.
Probably not directly related to guns. Economic, political, and environmental concerns probably factor into it. Really anything that leads people to lose for hope for the future can drive suicide rate higher. Admittedly having a mass shooting every few days doesn't instill much confidence in the future.
We'd be happier as a society i
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We'd be happier as a society if we stopped having senseless shootings. (-- captain obvious)
We'd be happier as a society if we stopped paying attention to sensationalist journalism.
If you:
1. Don't have gun in your home
2. Aren't a violent criminal
3. Don't live with a violent criminal
then your chance of being shot is negligible,
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There are more firearms than people in the United States, yet somehow, gun owners aren't dropping like flies because their weapon leapt up and attacked them.
Conversely, if you live with a violent criminal, the chances harm will come to you are higher regardless if there's a firearm in the house.
It's almost like violent people are that way regardless of the presence of firearms.
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Ignoring a problem does not contribute to happiness except for someone like you who doesn't have the problem.
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Sadly, for police and firefighters, job-related and suicidal deaths are about 50% each, with suicides prevailing [usatoday.com].
A contributing factor is that those professions call for "he-men/women." For that reason, seeking help is a weakness. The jobs are stressful and some, situations can cause PSTD just like it does for combat military.
Last year [2017], 103 firefighters and 140 police officers committed suicide, whereas 93 firefighters and 129 officers died in the line of duty, which includes everything from being fatally shot, stabbed, drowning or dying in a car accident while on the job.
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Can you mention any country where students are safer? Mass killings of students is not a US problem, it's an anomaly there.
Got to teach them early that they are scum (Score:2)
And that they do not deserve privacy, trust or, gasp!, permission for independent thought. No surprise the US has to import a lot of the top of the STEM field from abroad. It is not that US children do not really have the smart ones, it is that they get discouraged early on from ever admitting that they are smart and it is made very clear to them that the road to survival is being average and conformist and to never rock the boat.
Of course, anybody with at least some insight knows that these cameras have ze
Re:The kids know (Score:2)
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They read the news, they are much smarter these days, although just as reckless.
It's like the virus/anti-virus posturing in the old days of Norton Antivirus: It was a technology arms race where the leader changed every month.
As surveillance technology matures, so will evasive tactics.
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No surprise the US has to import a lot of the top of the STEM field from abroad. It is not that US children do not really have the smart ones, it is that they get discouraged early on from ever admitting that they are smart and it is made very clear to them that the road to survival is being average and conformist and to never rock the boat.
Most imported STEM talent comes from Asian countries such as China and India, where the pressure to conform is far greater than it is in America.
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Oh yes. They have absolutely no problem taking 10% of the best and letting the rest rot in slums.
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And why do you think these people leave? Also, have you looked at the number of people in that "area" and ever though that maybe they do suppress most of the available talent as well?
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Most imported STEM talent comes from Asian countries such as China and India, where the pressure to conform is far greater than it is in America.
Also, those bright students are not subjected to student debt like Americans.
They are "subsidized" by their country.
Hide your guns (Score:2)
... before entering the school is all you have to do to fool this AI?
So what good is it then? To bar the door when armed police arrive?
Check out patriot technologies (tsx:pat) (Score:1)
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Obviously, ;-), the minority kids are little foreign terrorists, and the white kids are little domestic terrorists. Is that so hard?
Perspective from a city school (Score:4, Interesting)
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/mo... [findlaw.com]
Mr. Weber had gone into the woods with four other teens on the night of September 25. This group included Mr. Boyd, Mr. Brett Johnson, Mr. Adam Lile, and Ms. Lindsey Harper. Mr. Brett Johnson, Mr. Adam Lile, and Ms. Lindsey Harper all subsequently testified against Mr. Boyd and identified him as the person who stabbed Mr. Weber in the woods. Mr. Brett Johnson's brother, Brandon, also testified that Mr. Boyd admitted to killing Jimmy Weber and showed him Mr. Weber's body in the woods. According to the evidence presented at trial, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Brett Johnson were upset with Mr. Weber for discarding a shotgun that they were going to use to rob a grocery store. They had hatched the plan to lure Mr. Weber into the woods and kill him. After walking along a trail for several minutes, the group reached an open space in the woods where they split up. Mr. Brett Johnson and Ms. Lindsey Harper continued down a hill, through heavy brush and into a clearing. Mr. Boyd, Mr. Weber, and Mr. Lile remained behind. There, Mr. Boyd pulled out a knife and stabbed Weber repeatedly as Mr. Lile stood around. The group then rendezvoused, walked past Jimmy Weber-who was gasping-and left the area running.
The next was the only time I was actually happy that someone had died. This guy, Matt Vice, was the leader of a gang that would torment those that didn't belong to any. A group of seven of them jumped me and two friends outside of a pool hall one day, but if they had known my two friends, they probably would have brought more guys. The friends were brothers and absolutely ruthless fighters, having grown up to an abusive father and fighting each other. The brothers won the fight while I was knocked off my ass. But us winning the fight meant escalation to the conflict.
A few weeks later, I was buying some weed from a new dealer when he pulled a gun on me and forced me to walk into the woods near the projects. He walked me deep into the woods and made out that he was going to kill me, before just running off. I was absolutely terrified and had a panic attack. Interestingly enough, I didn't feel the sensation of fear again until years later. It was like it had broken something. I still have nightmares of that night.
Word got back to me that Matt had set me up for the mock execution and I stupidly told my friend Chris, not realizing that he'd react. About a week later, Matt had gone to Chris' house to buy some acid, not knowing that Chris and I were good friends. Chris took him down to his basement at gunpoint, robbed him, and pistol whipped him. He was super proud to tell me that he told Matt "don't fuck with *my name!* I was less than thrilled to hear about this, obviously. They retaliated quickly by encircling another friend's car with theirs, and pointing their guns at him, eventually letting him leave. Things were getting out of hand, but luckily for us, they ended up jumping the wrong people.
The 'gang' attacked two other brothers (identical twins, actually) in the front yard of their house, something like 10-2. The father of the twins saw what was happening and ran outside, and the group jumped on him as well. One of the twins made it inside, grabbed a fucking samurai sword, and came out stabbing. He ended up killing the gangleader. Here's the link. https://www.semissourian.com/story/113012.html
I moved to another city after the following happened to some friends. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/mo-court-of-appeals/1593494.html
On December 17, 2006, James “Kelly” Yow, Lark Gardner, Dennis Jo
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Deplorable (Score:2)
...that precious and scarce public education money has to be spent on AI-powered security cameras. Consideration should be given to taxing guns and ammunition to fully fund school security of this type. One can be certain the NRA would be against such a proposal, but let politicians come out and tell us that their NRA money means more to them than the safety of the next generation of Americans.
I dare them.... I double-dog dare them to do that, in front of a broadcast video camera, so their opposition can pl
How do cameras help? (Score:1)
US School system (Score:2)
the US school system never stops to amaze me.
you actually need this stuff to keep your schools in order?
the most suspicious activity going on in my school were some kids trying to smoke.
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I was bullied in Junior high and high school. I didn't even know most of the kids' names so if i bothered to report it they couldn't do anything. Facial recognition cameras might have made it possible to catch the abusers. I can see the argument for these technologies in schools.
My lady went to school in Flint. I bet she would see it even quicker.
American school administrations are clueless. (Score:2)
They look to technology, multi-step programs, *anything* to avoid actually working at doing the hard work of running a school.
School massacres are nothing new, going back decades. Prior to camara systems that, as other posters have noted will stop no violence, the panacea was bogus psychometric testing to identify "potentially violent" students. Of course the tests were found to be useless.
When students with trench-coats shot up their school, trench coats were banned. When students in hoodies were violent,
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At this point, most of them have been neutered from doing anything anyway. I've known several teachers and it's like they at walking on eggshells anytime they do anything involving a student. I knew one girl who was forced to personally apologize to a student and parent.... and give the kid a free 100.
The issue? She gave the kid a 0 on a test. Because they kid didn't take the test. The kid also refused to take the make up test. She gave him another required make up test and he never did it either.