In recent years, school safety issues in the United States have been frequent. To deal with potential gun threats, more and more schools have introduced artificial intelligence security technology. However, a farcical incident recently occurred at Kenwood High School, under the Baltimore County Public School System in Maryland: a multi-million dollar AI gun detection system mistakenly identified a 16-year-old student’s bag of Doritos as a firearm, causing police to swarm and handcuff the teenager.
The incident occurred as football practice was ending at Kenwood High School, and 16-year-old Tyki Allen was about to go out with friends. Suddenly, eight police cars roared up, police with guns drawn rushed toward him, shouting “Get down on the ground!” and then handcuffed him. But when they searched him, they found nothing.
It wasn’t until the police showed the image captured by the AI system that triggered the alarm—a crumpled Doritos bag in his pocket—that the truth came to light. In the AI’s eyes, this bag of corn chips had become a “suspected firearm.”
Last year, Baltimore County Public School System deployed a gun detection system developed by Omnilert, utilizing the more than 7,000 existing surveillance cameras in schools within the district to scan video feeds in real-time for potential weapons. Once a “threat” is detected, it immediately sends an alert.
According to public information, the Baltimore County Public School System approved a contract with Omnilert for its AI gun detection system on August 8, 2023, for approximately $2.7 million. The contract stated that the system includes hardware, software, monitoring services, training, etc., covering middle and high schools, with plans for completion of installation in schools within the district by February 2024. Additionally, budget documents show that the Baltimore County Public School System will bear an annual operating cost of about $580,000 for the system in fiscal year 2026.
This January, the Omnilert system completely failed during a shooting at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee: a 17-year-old male student brought a gun onto campus, shot and killed a 16-year-old female student, and then took his own life. The AI failed to detect the weapon in the shooter’s hand. District administrators explained that the problem was that the shooter was too far from the cameras. The district spent about $1 million on the Omnilert system.