As one of the leading providers of this technology, Omnilert saw significant growth in 2023 as public and private organisations recognised the importance of being able to detect and verify weapons in seconds and then have its system automatically initiate a full emergency response designed to save lives.

“With more than 650 mass shootings in 2023, the need for new layers of protection have never been greater, and we remain steadfast in our goal to provide the best technology that can help save lives in an active shooter incident,” said Dave Fraser, CEO of Omnilert. “Entering 2024, Omnilert now protects hundreds of schools, universities, hospitals, retail, commercial, and other organisations around the country which is a testament to the effectiveness of our Omnilert Gun Detect platform. As another layer of protection needed to keep people safe, this solution continues to be the only AI visual gun detection technology that can offer a unique combination of detection, verification, activation and notification – and this is what will ultimately make the difference in a mass shooting or incident of gun violence.”

Growth areas for 2023

In 2023 Omnilert more than doubled Omnilert Gun Detect sales and increased its sales pipeline by over four times across customers in K-12, higher education, healthcare, state and local government, retail and commercial, finance and banking, hospitality and life sciences.

The company also extended its business via IP licensing, including a partnership with Evolv Technology. As part of this relationship, Evolv integrated Omnilert Gun Detect visual gun detection AI into its new Evolv Extend product to detect brandished guns. Leveraging Omnilert’s open platform and flexible monitoring capabilities, this integration enables Evolv to provide another layer of protection beyond entry points with Evolv Express systems, empowering onsite security operators to take immediate action to help prevent potentially catastrophic active shooter incidents.

The number of "off-the-shelf" integrations in 2023 also doubled, covering video management, emergency mass notification, access control, control room and real-time crime centre platforms and other communication systems. This increase in software integrations underscores Omnilert’s commitment to being an open platform, allowing innovations by partners through open APIs and dedicated integration support.

The company also doubled its channel partner network to provide customers with local, customised sales and support including evaluation, installation, testing and deployment, and it became a platinum award winner in the Best Metal/Weapons Detection category of the 2023 ‘Astors’ Homeland Security Awards.

The grim reality

As highlighted in the gun violence statistics compiled by Omnilert, the alarming statistics around gun violence reaffirm the need to protect America’s public places. Considering that more than 80 percent of school shootings are now occurring outdoors, the company stresses the importance of monitoring and protecting both inside facilities as well the perimeter of buildings where active shooters can be detected and potentially stopped before they can even enter.

An AI visual gun detection system can be a key layer of an organisation’s overall security solution because it can identify a weapon in less than a second and once verified, it can initiate an extensive automatic response such as lock doors, call police, set the facility on lock down, alert people in the facility and more. This software can also provide situational intelligence on the shooter’s location at any given time to provide valuable information to first responders as well as those in harm’s way.