Yesterday afternoon, an Omnilert alert caused a stir at Parkville High School in Baltimore County, resulting in police on the scene. The alert, however, turned out to be a false alarm as no weapon was found after a thorough search of the premises. Students were temporarily moved to allow police to investigate, but were eventually given the all-clear to resume their regular activities. This incident marks a concerning trend for the Baltimore County school system as it grapples with the efficacy of AI security measures. According to reports by WBAL-TV, the school's disruption happened near 5 p.m., and it wasn't the first time the system had triggered a large-scale response.
The AI program behind this commotion is Omnilert's Gun Detection System, which was also involved in a recent incident at Kenwood High School. At Kenwood, the technology mistakenly identified a bag of chips as a gun, leading to police surrounding and drawing weapons on students. One student was handcuffed before officers discovered the mistake. Following this event, Baltimore County officials called for a review of the system, with Councilman Julian Jones questioning, "How did it come to be that we had police officers with guns drawn approaching a kid because of a bag of Doritos?" as reported by CBS News.
Meanwhile, the integration of AI systems into school security protocols is gaining scrutiny. Baltimore County Schools have reportedly retrofitted 7,000 existing cameras with the Omnilert Gun Detect AI, as per the CBS News article.
