Thoughts, Prayers and AIoT

First of all, this is not a political statement in any way, and I am neither attributing blame nor advocating any stance on gun control.

Second, I do want to share that I prayed for the victims of yet another mass shooting incident (in New York City earlier this week), their families and those traumatized by the invasion of their workplace.

Finally, I apologize to you, my readers, who may find my article insensitive and opportunistic. Feel free to skip this article, but having tried to find the picture above, in a sea of pictures that made every murder related to this one, I am certain that making my point requires a timely response before the next incident occurs.

What I want to talk about is an indication of what could have been different if AIoT were more transformational. Let’s call it “Advanced 911” or “Distributed Dispatch.”

Every news station (I turned to) was commenting on how fast the police had sent out the picture of the shooter walking toward the building. Given the yellow box highlighting the shooter, I assume there was some AI involved in visual recognition of the gun.

Now comes the logical question. If the gun were recognized that quickly, what could have been done to alert building security at the same time dispatch was notifying the police?

• Could the doors been locked to slow him down and give more time to the police to respond?
• Could the elevator have been stopped between floors?
• Could building security share their feed with the police or dispatch?
• Could a broadcast SMS message have been sent to warn people to shelter in place?

From my perspective, the answer is yes to all of these questions.

All it takes is connectivity and software (and some ingenuity) but, having seen what’s already been possible with AI and IoT, I think this could be done and with a commitment to include security strategies with APIs. I am certain if Brian Rosen, the expert on the next generation 911, was involved, this could be fleshed out and made part of our future.

It’s not a solution for every scenario, but certainly should be considered when a Smart City is ready to tackle lone shooter scenarios.