Avigilon deployed by Broward County Public Schools

From Security Vision
Jump to: navigation, search
Avigilon deployed by Broward County Public Schools
Excluded from graph ,|value|value}}
Deployment Status Ongoing
Deployment Start Date
Deployment End Date
Events * uses Record type Property:Has event

Start (2 September 2019, Documented, ?, No description)

City ,|x|x}}
Country USA
Involved Entities ,|x|x}}
Keywords ,|x|x}}
Technology Deployed ,|x|x}}
Information Certainty Speculative
Primary sources ,|x|1}}
Datasets Used ,|x|x}}
Deployment Type ,|x|x}}
runs search software ,|x|x}}
managed by ,|x|x}}
used by ,|x|x}}
Potentially used by
Information Certainty 0
Summary In 2019, Broward County Schools installed Avigilon cameras, including the Appearance Search tool, amidst debate on whether it employs facial recognition. With around 270,000 students, Broward County is one of the largest US public school districts. Post the tragic Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, the district plans to implement an experimental AI surveillance system. The system aims to alert monitors of unusual events or unauthorized individuals. Shannon Flounnory, the district’s safety director, notes Appearance Search's varied uses, from finding lost children to monitoring staff conduct. However, the tool's classification remains unclear, as it shares traits with facial recognition despite operating differently.

Graph View ↗︎

Information Certainty: Speculative


Deployment Purpose: Surveillance, Access Control, Student Surveillance, Missing Person Recovery

Summary
In 2019, Broward County Schools installed Avigilon cameras, including the Appearance Search tool, amidst debate on whether it employs facial recognition. With around 270,000 students, Broward County is one of the largest US public school districts. Post the tragic Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, the district plans to implement an experimental AI surveillance system. The system aims to alert monitors of unusual events or unauthorized individuals. Shannon Flounnory, the district’s safety director, notes Appearance Search's varied uses, from finding lost children to monitoring staff conduct. However, the tool's classification remains unclear, as it shares traits with facial recognition despite operating differently.



Location:
CityFort Lauderdale (FL)
Country⠉USA
Loading map...


Description[ ]

Broward County Schools installed Avigilon cameras in 2019. There is debate around whether Appearance Search, the tool used, constitutes facial recognition. Broward County is one of the largest public school districts in the US and caters to around 270,000 students.

Following the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year that left 17 students and staff dead, Broward County school district has announced it will be unveiling an experimental artificial intelligence (AI) system to keep students under surveillance 2

It will automatically alert a monitoring officer when it senses events “that seem out of the ordinary” or people “in places they are not supposed to be 2

In an interview with Recode, Shannon Flounnory, the district’s executive director of safety and security, said Appearance Search has been used to locate children lost in schools, to investigate complaints against staff, and to deter violations of codes of conduct. He says the software has also made the school security staff aware of disciplinary infractions they otherwise would not have known about. The tool has also been acquired by the Billings Public School District in Montana, Wilson County Schools in Tennessee, and, more recently, Broward County Public Schools, which includes Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida 3

The point is, it’s not actually clear what, exactly, we should call the tool. Despite not identifying people by name like a standard facial recognition tool does, Leong says, “it does do a very similar thing in being able to access a very particular person across time, location, and the environment, and make conclusions about them in equally concerning ways.” An advertising pamphlet from Avigilon even describes the tool working in this way: One school used Appearance Search to track when a girl entered and exited the bathroom during lunch hours. That allowed a principal to find out she was eating in the bathroom because she was being bullied and then intervene. Mathur adds that Appearance Search could easily be used in conjunction with standard facial recognition tech. In fact, Avigilon is also rolling out a tool it does call facial recognition — Appearance Alerts — that it’s also selling to schools, though the company won’t reveal how many schools are using this product 3

References

  1. a b c  "New surveillance AI can tell schools where students are and where they’ve been". (2020) <https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/25/21080749/surveillance-school-artificial-intelligence-facial-recognition> Accessed: 2022-06-28
  2. a b c  "Broward County Schools Turn to AI Surveillance Solution to Secure Campuses". (2019) <https://www.securitysales.com/news/broward-county-schools-ai-surveillance/> Accessed: 2022-06-28

Retrieved from "https://www.securityvision.io/wiki/index.php?title=Avigilon_deployed_by_Broward_County_Public_Schools&oldid=28356"