SALEM, VA – When Salem High School students return this month, they’ll be walking into a building with a new layer of protection — one that’s always watching.
“These are our cameras that we have displayed throughout the building; they cycle through every thirty seconds,” Principal Kelly Linkenhoker said.
Linkenhoker says this year, the cameras will play a crucial role in the school’s safety plan.
These cameras don’t just watch — they think.
With AI-powered weapons detection, they can alert administration the moment danger appears.”
“Anyone that comes on campus, it’s going to automatically send us an alert if there are any concerns about weapons being on that person,” Linkenhoker said.
The system license from Coram AI costs around $47,000 annually, in addition to $40,000 in equipment, which was offset by a state grant.
Linkenhoker says the around 130 camera system runs quietly in the background, providing constant surveillance without disrupting the school day.
“We only use it if there’s an alert. The students will be able to feel safe in the building without even interfering with any of their instruction,” she said.
Assistant Principal Jamie Garst says the system is a more efficient and less intrusive alternative to metal detectors.
“Having everyone go through a metal detector is very time-consuming, so it creates a barrier getting into and out of the building,” Garst said.
But the AI system has limitations. Right now, it can only detect weapons that are visible and out in the open — it can’t spot anything hidden inside bags or pockets.
It also produces a number of false alarms.
“An example might be when we’ve had maintenance workers coming and holding a hammer a certain way. It might detect it, and we get an automatic text message of here’s the situation, and we can verify pretty quickly if it’s in fact a weapon or not,” Garst said.
But like so many things in the world of artificial intelligence, it learns
“If someone is walking in with an umbrella and it alerts, we can automatically say that’s a false alarm and it won’t alert on that next time,” Linkenhoker said.
The cameras are just one piece of the puzzle.
“School safety and security is not in a camera, but in the climate and culture created in the building,” Garst said.
Salem says they hope to expand to other schools in the near future.