Superintendent Thomas W. Taylor and Chief Safety Officer Marcus Jones announced that as of March 2, a new AI security system will be implemented at three Montgomery County schools (B-CC, Magruder and Seneca Valley.)
The new surveillance system, Volt (Violence Observation & Lead Tacking) AI, is a software that uses AI to sift through security footage from the school’s camera in order to identify threats, medical emergencies or suspicious activity and send immediate alerts to the school staff—just as the vape detectors alert staff when a vape is being used in a student bathroom. Once alerted, the school staff is required to review the information and determine an appropriate response to the situation. Despite concerns, the system does not make decisions on its own. Depending on its effectiveness and success at said schools, there’s a possibility of it being implemented at WJ in the future.
Many argue that this new system could be helpful; reducing response time to emergencies and creating a safer, more secure school environment.
“I do think it would be very effective [if it was implemented at WJ],” security team leader Anthony Williams said. “It’s similar to the vape detectors that we have in the building, and it would be all hands on deck. If everyone is on board to help then I definitely think it would be very beneficial.”
Williams remarked on the issues that take up most of security guards’ time overall. Usually, their focus rests on vape detectors going off. When they receive notices from the detectors, they have to try to figure out who’s inside the bathrooms by going back and using the cameras and requesting that students perform self searches. It can be taxing to deal with such issues day to day, so the possibility of Volt AI hastening the response time is enticing.
“It would free up a lot of time as it would give us the location of the person and the event that happened, which means that we can get there in a faster time rather than going back to the cameras to rewind or fast forward,” Williams said.
However, some students protest against the idea of an AI camera network being implemented.
Castro reverbates the concerns of others.Many are uncomfortable with the idea that the system could collect data on specific students or record personal situations.
While there have been many concerns about this AI tool being a possible invasion of privacy, district officials have stated that there is a boundary on what the technology is allowed to monitor. The system does not use facial recognition to identify specific people, nor does it monitor student’s devices, record audio or track individuals from camera to camera.
