Vegas transit system first in U.S. to fully deploy AI scan for weapons

On your next visit to Vegas, an extra set of eyes will be watching you if you decide to hop onto the local transit system.

As part of a $33 million multi-year upgrade to fortify its security, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is set to add a system-wide AI from gun detection software vendor ZeroEyes that scans riders on its over 400 buses in an attempt to identify anyone brandishing a firearm. 

Tom Atteberry, RTC’s director of safety and security operations, said that seconds matter in a situation where an active shooting unfolds, and implementing the system could give authorities an edge. “Time is of the essence; it gives us time to identify a firearm being brandished, so they can be notified and get to the scene and save lives,” he said.

Monitoring and preventing mass shooting is one that public places across the country grapple with daily. Violent crime on transit systems, specifically, remains an issue in major metro areas, with a report released in late 2023 by the Department of Transportation detailing concerns from transit agency officials around the U.S. about rising violence on their transit systems. According to a database maintained by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, assaults on transit systems have spiked, and there has been a rise in public fears about transportation safety.

Purdue University Northwest, a largely commuter campus with almost 7,000 students, has college students of all ages arriving from urban areas like Gary and Hammond, Indiana, by bus, car, and train. On average, from the first gunshot to the first 911 call, five minutes pass. It is on average 12 minutes before police can get “boots on the ground” at a school, said Brian Miller, the university’s director of public safety, referencing research that has been conducted on response time in mass shooting incidents. “We have to reduce that, gunshot detectors and weapons scanners, these are all good technologies,” Miller said.

While officials in Nevada and at Purdue University Northwest said there was no specific incident that prompted interest in new AI-powered detection technology, the risk of an incident is always on the minds of public safety officials. Vegas transit crime stats are low compared to similar transit systems its size, but the issue of guns in public has been in the fore since Stephen Paddock killed 58 people on the The Strip in 2017’s mass shooting. 

A mass shooting often begins with a subject entering a complex with the weapon drawn, fully displayed, and that gives ZeroEyes space to work and overcome a fog-of-war type situation, according to Sam Alaimo, co-founder of Zero Eyes. Typically, as a mass shooting unfolds, there are multiple 911 calls from witnesses, all giving conflicting information.

If ZeroEyes detects a brandished gun, it alerts a staffed operations center stocked with retired law enforcement veterans, who quickly identify whether it is a threat.

Atteberry stressed that the ZeroEyes system is not designed to detect lawful, legal firearms that might be in a holster or packed in a purse. “It is strictly to identify someone brandishing a firearm in a threatening manner,” he said.

The process from the moment an image comes in, is vetted by their staff, and 911 is alerted, can be as low as three to five seconds, Alaimo said. The system can usually identify the type of weapon also, which he added can give law enforcement an edge. 

“We give them the clarity to get in there and stop the killing,” Alaimo said. Their goal is mass damage. When you see these mass shooters, they typically start outside, swinging weapons around, with the gun exposed. We built it with the mass shooter in mind,” he said.

ZeroEyes launched as the pandemic was taking hold. It was designed for school campuses in mind, Alaimo said, but as schools shuttered, the company pivoted to government buildings, corporate campuses, casinos, and manufacturing complexes. 

Acoustic sensors vying for same public safety market

Wei Dai, assistant professor of Purdue Northwest’s Department of Computer Science and advanced intelligence software lab director, says that image-based scanned programs like ZeroEyes, which relies on existing camera mounts, may not be as effective as other AI options when detecting weapons. Dei says acoustic sensors may be a better fit in some cases because cameras can’t cover every inch of a building or campus space, but sound sensors detect a gunshot sound with 99 percent accuracy.

“AI technology comes from the data; if we do not capture the data, there is no successful AI,” Dei said.

Acoustic sensors have been slow to catch on, though, largely due to cost. Earlier this year, Seattle scrapped a plan to install acoustic sensors in high crime areas. But they are being used in some areas. Lafayette, Louisiana, is testing them this year and Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, is also launching an acoustic pilot program, but not in the transit system.

Purdue Northwest University’s public safety team, which has 14 full-time officers and uses various tools to keep it safe, will look at all technology options in the future, including image-based tech like ZeroEyes. “As the technology advances, it is something we would be interested in,” Miller said. “You need a layered approach to law enforcement.” He added that while images, acoustics and other technologies, combined with old-fashioned police work, provide the best holistic approach, there is no single tool to prevent mass shootings.

The Las Vegas transit system is not the only in the nation to use ZeroEyes, but is the first to plan full deployment. A pilot program with Philadelphia’s SEPTA ended this spring after a year, but Paul Gratton Jr., a former NYPD supervisor with the transit bureau who now consults, says Vegas may be a better test case.

“ZeroEyes supplies the AI part, but they are not putting up their cameras. SEPTA found that most of their existing cameras were not of enough quality for their AI to do the work. I think Vegas is a much better platform; their camera system is better,” Gratton said.

Alaimo says ZeroEyes is of value wherever a newer camera network is already in use. 

Even with better cameras, implementing the technology has many moving parts, such as what to do once a brandished gun is detected. “What actions are you allowed to take, and what actions should responding officers take?” Gratton said.

While image-based AI detection systems aren’t flawless, they are helpful in a comprehensive security package, and already extensively used in intelligence monitoring. Gratton thinks technologies like ZeroEyes will be much more widely adopted, and that the cameras are a good fit for transit systems because they can deliver screening at a high volume. “You can’t subject people all to a TSA level of security screening,” Gratton said. “Passengers will only take so much.”

“We tested out a lot of similar technology; I do think the future is technology is similar to ZeroEyes,” he said. “These camera systems are the natural progression of policing which will involve AI in camera systems.”

Cybersecurity consultant Michael Hasse remains skeptical, and cited the history of disguising weapons, which is practically a cottage industry.

“Concealed weapons have been an art form for hundreds of years,” Hasse said. “Systems like this work best when there’s been no attempt to conceal the weapon, but the simple fact is that there are too many ways to disguise a gun, and all of these systems rely on technology which can be spoofed trivially, from all-plastic weapons to simple form factor modifications.”

But Atteberry says the stakes are too high to not embrace new technology. “You have to be progressive and proactive; you can’t just sit back and wait for something to happen and then be reactive. Our job is to look around corners and prevent something from happening. If it saves one life, it pays for itself,” he said.