Page 16 - Campus Security & Life Safety, May/June 2021

CoverStory
brought these systems to the commercial market in 2014.
Today, gunshot detection technology is being used by higher education organizations including Georgia Tech, Savannah College of Art and Design
and others, as well as on corporate, K-12 and government campuses.
Indoor Gunshot Detection Systems
In the process of educating yourself on what gunshot detection sys- tem is right for your campus, it is easy to get lost in technical and marketing jargon along the way. Before you get too far down the rab- bit hole, remember the key questions: How do you know it is a gun- shot? How is the information getting to you and others on campus? How long does that take? Is the information accurate?
At their core, all indoor gunshot detection systems are comprised of one or more sensors strategically positioned within facilities that transmit gunshot alerts through a communications platform. When evaluating sensor types, it is important to ask if the sensor will alert automatically or if it requires any machine learning or external vali- dation. In other words, where is the shot processing taking place and how quickly does that happen? If the sensor does alert automatically, how does it filter out false alerts? If the sensor requires some kind of external or database verification, how long does that process take? How reliable is it? Asking these questions will help you understand the system’s rate of detection, detection accuracy, speed of alerting and how the sensor accomplishes these tasks.
Systems that rely on acoustics only can potentially produce false alerts due to loud noises in the environment. Systems that use AI or machine-learning are reliant on event comparison to a database or library of sounds in an attempt to filter out shot events from other sounds in the environment. Some systems send audio files to human analysts at a monitoring station to verify “possible” shot events or stream audio to the cloud. Audio clips sent outside of a local server may open organizations up to privacy concerns or violate privacy laws in hospitals and other settings.
Sensors that require manual calibration can be problematic in that they require close monitoring and analysis for a time before they are fine-tuned to sounds in the environment. Sensors that rely on any type of external validation will have delays in alerting speed and run the risk of producing false alerts.
Dual-mode or multi-mode sensors utilize acoustic detection plus additional detection technologies onboard the sensor. Shot informa- tion is generally processed at the sensor level, which requires no extra steps for the system to determine that a shot event has occurred. Dig deeper into these systems by asking what those additional modes are, and what conditions need to be met in order for the sensor to alert. Sensors that require both the signature of a gunshot (acoustic sensor) and the flash of a weapon (infrared sensor) to validate a shot will be most accurate in filtering out false alerts.
There is also power and networking to consider. Power-over-Eth- ernet (PoE) has advantages but has an impact on infrastructure, and DC power requirements could be problematic and subject to tamper- ing. Wireless systems are the most flexible to install, however, end users should ask about sensor uptime and self-testing features and how they impact battery life, and if the communications system is secured with encryption.
Benefits and Best Practices
To put the benefit of reducing response time with gunshot detection into perspective, the average length of an active shooter incident is
around five minutes (Investigation, 2013), with an average of one death occurring every 5 to 15 seconds (Taylor, 2017) while active shooting is taking place.
Ultimately, you need to be able to rely on your gunshot detection system to automate the alerting process as early as possible and from the incident occurring with the highest level of accuracy in order to justify the investment. Think back to the Virginia Tech shooting. After the dormitory shooting, the perpetrator fled the building undetected and returned hours later to complete his mission. Thirty-two people lost their lives when it was finally over. If gunshot detection technology were in place to detect the initial shot, the response may have been drastically different. Think how many lives could have been saved.
An additional benefit of gunshot detection that might get overlooked is the impact it can have on active shooter drills and training. More than 20 years of realistic active shooter drills being conducted in schools and other environments have shown us that these drills are potentially more traumatizing to students and staff than they are beneficial (Safety, 2020). Some gunshot detection systems have simulation and training modes that will activate the sequence of information flow, including integrated actions within video, mass notification, access control, etc., without needing to present a weapon into the environment. Similar to fire alarm drills, a simulated active shooter drill can help organizations initiate a calmer, more organized, less traumatic training experience.
For all the benefits gunshot detection can bring to a campus envi- ronment, the difficulty with system selection is that at this time there is no one governing body that regulates the industry or monitors market- ing claims. An important resource any campus operator should look for is the Department of Homeland Security’s SAFETY Act program. Seek technologies that have been SAFETY Act Certified and bear the red Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seal of approval.
This indicates that the technology is listed on the DHS Approved Products List for Homeland Security and has been vetted by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), a DHS arm that monitors emerging threats and encourages private industry to create technol- ogy solutions to abate them. On the other hand, a product bearing a green or blue mark will have only a Developmental Testing and Eval- uation Designation (DT&E), indicating that the technology is still in the development and testing phase. Additional best practices include involving your security integrator early in the process and asking the manufacturer for customer references.
Gunshot detection becomes the starting point of response by immediately bringing situational awareness to the forefront, provid- ing clarity over confusion. Gunshot detection will improve your over- all security posture and strengthen your response to active shooter incidents and could potentially boost recruitment efforts for parents and students that place a high value on campus security in the selec- tion process. Focus on finding a system that uses multiple modes of detection, has a high rate of detection accuracy, fast alerting speed, flexible integration capabilities, and devices that use secure commu- nications and are safe to use on your network.
Equally important is a system that can be integrated seamlessly with your existing video and emergency notification systems, and one that enhances your active shooter training. This is where true auto- mation happens and where gunshot detection can have the most impact on reducing the loss of life during active shooter incidents.
Christian Connors is the president of president of Shooter Detection Systems, an Alarm.com company.
16 campuslifesecurity.com | MAY/JUNE 2021