In their quest to keep schools safe from active shooter threats, 21st Century A|EYE has selected Golden Rule Charter Schools based in Dallas, Texas, as the location to unveil their automated threat detection platform.
It is difficult to overstate the seriousness or pervasiveness of gun-related violence in American schools. In the three months since the beginning of 2023, there have already been 10 school shootings. This statistic comes on the heels of 2022, which was the worst year for school shootings in recorded history by nearly every metric, representing 300 separate incidents - nearly one per school day for the entire year.
The grim reality that this problem presents is difficult to reconcile and increasingly difficult to combat with policy measures. As lawmakers continue to seek solutions, some schools, companies, and communities are taking matters into their own hands.
One such company, 21st Century A|EYE, has recently announced a breakthrough that may represent the future of preventative security technology, and it is already on track to be deployed in school districts across the country, beginning its expansion in educational institutions in seven additional states while garnering much interest in the commercial sectors, in the United States, the United Kingdom, in Europe, and across the Middle East, amongst other regions. The company has chosen Golden Rule Charter Schools as the location to present its AI-powered threat detection platform and has already seen success there following the initial stages of implementation in its seven campuses across Dallas, Texas.
21st Century A|EYE is the innovation of innovator Said Bilani, who built the weapons defense and detection platform while at Harvard University, and business partner, Brannon Castleberry, both of whom have collectively provided strategic security consulting services to political and private entities across the country, and who hold extensive governmental affairs and political influence, domestically and internationally. This partnership with Golden Rule represents the culmination of years of experience and an ongoing commitment to public safety on the part of 21st Century A|EYE and the communities it serves.
To read more about the company and its goals, visit https://21stcenturyaeye.com/
The partnership will bring the 21st Century A|EYE next-generation monitoring system into the campus’ security ecosystem, which will provide the school's security team with a suite of powerful new security tools. The platform functions autonomously through the use of AI threat detection in tandem with human alerting via a supplementary 21st Century A|EYE app, available to students, teachers, and staff, to facilitate the safest learning environment possible.
This partnership received the backing of education pioneer Julie Pickren from the Texas State Board of Education. Member Pickren stated, “Texas has experienced too many tragedies which have cost us children's and teachers' lives. My district has experienced this first-hand with the Santa Fe school shooting. Texas is taking action now to keep our children safe.”
Superintendent Dr. Vicente Delgado added, “with this new AI technology, we believe Golden Rule will become a beacon that other districts and charters will soon follow. The protection of children’s lives is paramount, and the partnership understands the importance of taking action to help prevent the next tragedy from occurring.”
In celebration of this partnership, Golden Rule Charter School’s IT Department, security team, faculty members, and members of the Dallas SWAT team were shown video demonstrations of the AI technology in use, which displayed the software’s proprietary detection and prevention mechanisms. Those present at this demonstration were hopeful the new technology will help avert future school shootings.
“Every year, parents pray, and politicians promise a solution. We are offering 21st-century solutions to a 21st-century problem. Today, we are proud to stand together, solutions in hand, in protecting the sanctity of children and youth from becoming the headline of the next national tragedy,” states founder Said Bilani.
“Anytime you develop something that can be a proactive instead of a reactive solution or preventative measure to a problem such as school shootings, anyone in state education or local education, from superintendents to elected officials, are most likely going to give you an ear to be able to show that you can help save lives in their district,” said company co-founder, Brannon Castleberry.
The new 21st Century A|EYE platform integrates with a given CCTV system and employs Artificial Intelligence technology to detect, locate, and alert in real-time. If the automatic detection system recognizes a weapon, 21st Century A|EYE will discern the threat, geo-locate the position, and issue an alert to the proper authorities.
If a threat is detected, first responders (both on-site and local authorities) will receive a real-time alert. The system is intended to be a cost-effective solution to a systemic problem, seamlessly integrating into pre-existing CCTV camera infrastructure and autonomously detecting, locating, and alerting for active shooters. This fully integrated AI platform works 24 hours, 7 days a week, and is not dependent on human monitoring.
While AI’s evolution is ascendant, these machine learning weapons’ defense and detection tools have achieved a major milestone for the fields of artificial intelligence and national security by showcasing how this state-of-the-art technology can be applied as a beacon for the future of preventative school security technology to be used all over the United States, and an example for the rest of the world to follow. Following the initial success of the program, the company intends to proceed with a launch in several neighboring states, from the east coast to the west coast, with many school boards and superintendents across the nation actively in talks to integrate the 21st Century A|EYE proprietary defense and detection platform into their school security infrastructure.
To learn more about this initiative and the company's founders, visit https://21stcenturyaeye.com/
