The Park City School District installed a gun detection analytics platform in all eight of its student buildings. It’s active 24/7, 365 days a year. Chief Operations Officer Mike Tanner said the system uses the district's current camera system with about 650 cameras.
“It overlays an AI-based software over the top of those cameras, and so the AI software looks through the existing cameras for unholstered firearms.”
Tanner said the software has been fully operational for two weeks and was tested by local law enforcement Tuesday. The Park City Police Department and the Summit County Sheriff’s Office had a four-hour training session at Park City High School where they ran six scenarios.
In one exercise, an actor walked down the hall with a firearm. ZeroEyes saw the weapon and sent an automated message to law enforcement.
“We wanted to, A. validate that ZeroEyes was working but B. also exercise a communication chain between ZeroEyes, Summit County dispatch and then back down to our responding patrol deputies.”
The passage of HB 119, which encourages teachers to carry a firearm, could mean there are more guns at schools. However, Tanner said the bill only allows teachers to carry concealed weapons and ZeroEyes only looks for unholstered guns. Further, when the system does detect a firearm, Tanner said there’s a trained law enforcement individual on the other end who can verify if there’s a real threat.
The district wanted to install the software after Utah lawmakers mentioned they were interested in funding an AI-based firearms detection platform, but Tanner said the funding for it never materialized. So, the district decided to pay for it on its own. Tanner said the district has a five-year contract with ZeroEyes, costing about $100,000 a year.
Another new law changing school safety will also cost the district. HB 84 requires all schools to have a resource officer, an armed security guard or a “school guardian” in each school. A guardian is armed and trained to protect students during an active threat, but the individual doesn’t have the authority to act as law enforcement and can be a volunteer. The bill also requires schools to have other safety measures like panic buttons and ballistic film cameras.
The bill allocated $100 million to schools to work on these things, and Tanner said the district would normally get about $635,000 based on the student population. However, Tanner said the district likely won’t get that much as it has already installed many required safety measures. The district also wants a trained officer rather than an untrained school guardian.
“The district, the Park City Police Department, Summit County Sheriff's Office all have a strong preference that that person carrying a weapon be a law enforcement officer and be trained and receive regular training as a result of being a police officer.”
But that costs more money. To meet the state requirement of having an officer in every school, the district will have to spend around $600,000 a year.
The district board of education plans to build the cost into the budget.
