Head of security at Navy Pier says AI gun detection has been a success, should be expanded on CTA
CHICAGO (CBS) -- In the wake of the tragic violence this week on a Chicago Transit Authority train, a deeper dig is warranted into a new artificial intelligence-powered security system just installed on 'L' platforms in a pilot program.
The ZeroEyes software, which uses AI to detect guns, has already been in use at Navy Pier for nearly two years.
Navy Pier Security Director Dan O'Shea said his office has received 45 alerts for possible guns so far this year. Fortunately, none of them led to security issues—but Navy Pier security was able to send a team to look into each instance because of the AI technology.
One ZeroEyes gun alert inside Navy Pier earlier this year looked concerning. But it turned out to be a prop Tommy gun.
"We sent an armed response to that—which is an off-duty police officer," said O'Shea. "It turns out he was in a theatre show, and was dressed as an old-time gangster."
With ZeroEyes, surveillance images that AI identifies as showing guns are reviewed by the company's team—and then alerts are sent to the security team at Navy Pier.
O'Shea is a recently-retired Chicago Police official. He served as commander of the Near North (18th) District—which includes Navy Pier—and later as deputy chief of the Belmont Area, or Area 3, and deputy chief of the Criminal Networks Group for Narcotics.
He has served as the executive director for safety and security for Navy Pier since October of last year, and he said there has not had a bona fide "lethal detection" in the almost two years since Navy Pier began using the ZeroEyes technology.
O'Shea said he wishes Navy Pier had had the ZeroEyes Software back in 2019, when a false alert for an active shooter caused a dangerous stampede at Navy Pier on the 4th of July after a fireworks show. Frightened people—among them families with small children—scrambled for safety and hunkered down under restaurant tables.
A total of 13 people were hurt in the chaos, which police said at the time all started when what was reportedly a firecracker was mistaken by a security guard as an active shooter.
"We learned from that and tried to better our security protocols moving forward from that day on," O'Shea said.
ZeroEyes was one of those improvements.
All the alerts have turned out to be police, armed security, toy or prop guns, or in one case, the Navy Color Guard in action on the pier.
But O'Shea said the fact that ZeroEyes is still flagging these benign guns shows that the system is working.
"We get alerts within seconds, and we can get the proper response to whatever that alert may be a lot faster than if someone were to call 911, or if someone were to try and figure out where he went," said O'Shea.
O'Shea said he believes ZeroEyes is also a good investment for the CTA, and for Chicago taxpayers.
"I really do. If you save one life, it's worth it. This has the ability to possibly save many lives in an active shooter situation," O'Shea said. "You know, the camera is looking for a weapon—it's not looking for a person. So anytime a weapon is displayed, the police need to know about it—and I think it's a great investment."
O'Shea hopes the CTA opens up its smaller pilot program of ZeroEyes-enabled cameras installed over the last month.
He hopes further that with a larger network of cameras, the CTA will have fewer tragic scenes to investigate like the one on a Blue Line train headed for the Forest Park terminal where four people were shot and killed early Monday morning.
Navy Pier has a system of about 500 cameras on the pier and around the facility. Almost all of them are adapted with the ZeroEyes software.
"All the cameras were here already, and AI ZeroEyes was just embedded in those cases," O'Shea said.
O'Shea said that the only cameras at Navy Pier that are not ZeroEyes-enabled are a few of the older surveillance cameras. But the plan is to install the software as those older cameras are upgraded over time.
O'Shea said that blanket coverage has also been key to the success of the software at the pier.