EDUCATION

by Ann Marie Kennon • photos courtesy LHISD

HUMAN AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROVIDING FULL-SCALE SECURITY

Liberty Hill ISD is continuing to level-up in its ability to safeguard every individual learning and working at district sites and buildings thanks, in part, to our good fortune that Steven Gold, CEO of SparkCognition, and his family live in Liberty Hill. Mr. Gold reached out to Superintendent Steve Snell and proposed a program that would provide and integrate his company’s software with the district’s current hardware, resulting in a combined physical and artificial intelligence (AI) system that is more effective at recognizing threats to personal and property safety. Mr. Snell expects the open system to be fully online by February.

With all the positive attention garnered by this initial deployment, Mr. Snell is pleased that the current program only scratches the surface of SparkCognition’s full capabilities, and the software was provided on a trial basis at no cost. “Our most recent school bond included $3 million for a multi-faceted approach to keep our facilities safe. We used those funds to upgrade our cameras and cell phones, harden campuses1 , and hire new SROs.” The ISD now has at least one uniformed officer at every campus in the district, which represents a vital layer of security backed up by the AI, which will be watching and learning 24 hours a day. “The AI helps our officers do double duty,” Mr. Snell said. “They can be on playgrounds or in various positive engagement activities while the system monitors every activity on campus.” He adds that even with advanced technological options available, the most essential part of the plan is hiring good people with good training because that is the greatest return on investment. He says, “A computer may track a suspect via camera angles and lock the right door at the right time but, at the end of the day, if a bad guy comes on campus with a gun, I want a police officer on campus to handle that situation.”

The superintendent explains that the new system is mid-spectrum between the old model of a single security guard monitoring cameras from behind a desk and a “’Skynet’” version of a fully automated and futuristic response paradigm. “A person can only watch one camera at a time for a few seconds, but the AI can watch dozens of cameras 24 hours a day without being distracted or tired. The program can be given faces to recognize but also, over time, will ‘learn’ patterns of behavior and activity that will enable it to recognize anomalies and alert human personnel to suspicious activity. The AI will consider a gun or a knife an immediate threat but will flag anything that could be a weapon, e.g., a pipe or bat, lock on it, and learn that shape.”

For instance, the system can recognize that a car in the parking lot is not normally present and notify the lot attendant where and when the vehicle arrived. The human officer will be able to discern if it is a student with a new car, or a parent simply dropping off a forgotten item.

CHECKING INTENT AND RESPONSE

Mr. Snell says while much attention is given to the worst-case shooter incident, there are many scenarios in which a security response may be warranted. “It is not always the big bad wolf. The system looks for the same thing any officer or administrator would; are those students smoking or vaping, why did this person fall, why is that door open, what is that person carrying, what are they doing in the hallway? Further up the spectrum, perhaps it’s a custody issue and the wrong parent is in the pickup line. In all cases, the AI loops officers in immediately of the incident time and location on campus.”

Apart from physical security, the ISD already employs an online monitoring system to review what is typed on computers in its network. “Students and staff have no expectation of privacy on a school computer, and we have a similar platform that recognizes conversations or search parameters that may indicate violence or selfharm. We immediately call the parents to make them aware and direct students to appropriate counseling to help them get back to a positive frame of mind. There are different levels of ‘flags’ so, like our physical security, the system merely triggers an alert to a human administrator with subjective experience. This system has shown the greatest return on investment of anything we’ve done.”

Mr. Snell says he will continue to provide updates on security audits and how the new AI performs generally, as well as provide information about the kinds of incidents that it catches to reassure parents and community members that expectations are being met. “We expect, once the system is fully online, we will also have drones in service and costs of service will average approximately $5,000 per month. It is a minimal expense compared to other things we’ve put in place, and parent feedback indicates it is money well spent when weighed against safety.“

Scan the code to learn more about security measures in the district.Christianna Bettis Photography

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