AUSTIN — An Austin-based security company has a potential solution for mass shootings.
It’s Athena, and its founders said it’s the world’s first artificial intelligence security camera that can detect guns.
Through this technology, security cameras will not only be able to spot a gun, but also immediately call police -- because during a shooting, seconds matter.
From the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in May to the recent shooting at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California, we've seen the heartbreak and families have felt the pain. And now, a security company believes it has a solution.
"We came up with this idea out of pure need,” Lisa Falzone said.
Falzone is one of the founders of Athena Security, a security camera that can help prevent crime before it even happens.
"We looked at the current security surveillance out there. Everything was reactive, everything just recorded a crime, nothing did anything to help get authorities there faster,” Falzone said.
So Chris Ciabarra created something to help stop the violence.
In demonstration, it's easy to use.
“The camera's going to detect the gun, you're going to go to your phone, you're going to open it up, you're going to see the alerts come on your phone, you’re going to see the alert and you'll see the box around the gun. There it is,” Ciabarra said. “It detected the gun.”
That alert then goes to police and school administrators.
The technology was just released a few weeks ago and is already in a Pennsylvania school. Falzone said it has given those parents peace of mind.
Now they're training a room full of resellers from around the world on how to bring this technology to their cities and help save lives.
“Our goal is to protect the world so you don't have to worry about sending your kids to school,” Falzone said.
The inventors said this is also made for corporations and commercial security cameras, not just schools.
It costs about $100 a month per camera for monitoring.