Athena Security, a start-up company attending the World Game Protection conference, demonstrated an artificial-intelligence-powered CCTV system that detects weapons.
Executives with the company, which is based in Austin and San Francisco, said they are in discussions with casinos and could believe the system could become a staple in the gaming industry. The system was showcased it to casino executives at the conference’s expo at the Tropicana Las Vegas.
Athena unveiled the first-of-its-kind technology at the end of 2018 and introduced it to a school in Philadelphia. The product is also being used in restaurants and retail outlets elsewhere.
Some casinos in the U.S. utilize a gunshot detection system that alerts security if a weapon is fired, said Athena CEO Lisa Falzone. Athena’s technology detects when someone pulls out a gun and then sends an immediate alert and video to security and police.
“It gets people to the crime scene faster and hopefully preventing the crime before it takes off,” Falzone said.
Falzone and co-founder Chris Ciabarra created Rebel Systems, a point of sale software solution company that was sold in 2017 to a private equity group after growing it more than 800 employees in seven years.
They started Rebel by raising $150 million. She called themselves serial entrepreneurs who were looking for their next company to launch. It happened with Athena a year ago as they were overwhelmed by the number of mass shootings in the U.S., including a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a bar in Thousand Oaks, California.
“We were shocked by everything going on in the news with the shootings, and we wanted to do something to help prevent some of these crimes,” Falzone said. “What we did was a proactive interactive security camera that helps prevent crime before it happens.”
The system is an artificial intelligence platform that integrates into the current security camera systems, Falzone said. The price $100 a month for each camera.
The company is developing other uses for the system to detect other threats, including knives and people banned from a property, Falzone said. In addition to guns, the system detects slips-and-falls, fights and other incidents of interest to security experts.
The system gives some false positives when it mistakenly detects a gun, but the product can be programmed and learn from that experience.
“It learns from everything. The more that’s out there the better it gets,” Falzone said.
Since the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival that that killed 58 people and hundreds, Falzone said casinos are seeking ways to secure their properties from weapons and also immediately detect fights before they get out of control. Security is already heavy in casinos.
“What we do is make security more effective because the security guy can be mobile looking for threats instead of being in the back of the surveillance room,” Falzone said, adding that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming many industries from automotive to machines and robotics.
“It’s going to transform the entire (security) industry, and that’s good,” Falzone said. “AI gets a bad rap, but this protects people and make them safe. We’re using AI for good. I think it’s the future of the industry and future of security. We need to protect the world and people from crime.”
Protecting casino customers from getting shot or stabbed was part of the discussion during the final day of the conference in the expo. Following an audience poll, there was little support for metal detectors at the entrance of casinos, which is commonplace in Asia. However, there was support for metal detectors at concerts and other venues inside a casino property.
Casino surveillance executives said they wanted technology that would keep people from bringing in weapons to their properties.
“A big one for everybody right now is weapon detection. It’s on so many people’s minds,” said John Underwood, surveillance technology manager with the Cherokee Nation Entertainment in Oklahoma. “How are going to protect people from coming into a casino and committing an act of violence? How do we stay ahead of it? How do we know what we can’t see? That concealed weapon detection. You’re not going to be put magnetometers at every door and crippled your security staff to handle the screening and make people made because there’s a backup. They will go to your competitors.”
There’s a constant discussing about implement on effective covert screening program, Underwood said.
Darrin Hoke, vice president of operational protection at L’Auberge in Lake Charles, Louisiana, said metal detectors were used at a casino in Northern Nevada that had to deal with a gang problem. The devices slowed down the lines and upset customers but did detect weapons on suspected gang members.
“I think it’s a tricky one to figure out, and I don’t know what the answer is,” Hoke said.
