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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 1, 2024 04:17 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Joe Hogan and Rep. Shelby Labs |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Utilizing Technology to Keep Students Safe |
In recent years, the advance in artificial intelligence has led to the creation of new and innovative technologies capable of monitoring video feeds to detect brandished firearms in real-time. When a brandished firearm is detected, these technologies possess the ability to immediately notify law enforcement of the existence of the threat, thereby reducing response times and minimizing the risk of injury or death. While this technology has been implemented in several school districts and high-crime areas in this Commonwealth, including the SEPTA transit system and Temple University, our primary and secondary schools would undoubtedly benefit from the deployment of this technology. In any active shooter scenario, real-time situational intelligence is imperative to stop the threat and protect the lives of innocents in the area. Unfortunately, a common thread of many of the recent active shooter incidents in the United States is the complete lack of situational intelligence resulting from stress, panic, and information overload. While law enforcement may speedily arrive at a location in the general vicinity of an active shooter, officers are commonly presented with either conflicting or no information regarding the real-time location of the shooter. When a gunman opened fire on the campus of Michigan State University in 2022, police received over 2,000 reports within a short span of time that placed the shooter at multiple locations over a 5-mile radius. At a time when every second matters, it is imperative that we equip our school districts and law enforcement agencies with the tools necessary to prevent and respond effectively to any active shooter incident. Accordingly, we will introduce legislation in the near future to authorize public and nonpublic schools to connect this technology to existing security cameras or other monitoring systems on school buildings, school grounds, and school buses. The technology shall possess the capability to assess live video feeds for the purpose of identifying any firearms brandished on school property, with minimal or no human oversight. If a firearm is detected, the technology will immediately and independently alert school personnel and first responders of the threat and provide crucial intelligence regarding the shooter’s location in real-time. Please join us in cosponsoring this important piece of legislation to better protect our children. |
Introduced as HB2026