Taki Allen, an African American high school student from Baltimore County, Maryland, was swarmed by police after an AI security system falsely flagged a crumpled Doritos bag in his pocket as a firearm. The mix-up left him terrified and shaken.
“It was a scary situation. It’s nothing I’ve been through before,” Allen told WLBT.
He said he was waiting outside Kenwood High School around 7 p.m. after football practice when police suddenly surrounded him. Allen had just finished eating chips, crushed the empty bag, and slipped it into his pocket while talking with friends.
Moments later, several patrol cars arrived. Officers pointed their guns at him and ordered him to the ground. “At first, I didn’t know where they was going until they started walking towards me with guns, talking about, ‘Get on the ground.’ I was like, ‘What?’ And made get on my knees and then put my hands behind my back and cuffed me, and then they searched me and they figured out I didn’t have nothing. Then they went over there to where I was standing, found a bag of chips on the floor.”
Police later explained that the school’s AI security system had detected what appeared to be a weapon. The system captured an image from a surveillance camera showing Allen’s hand position, which the software mistakenly interpreted as him holding a gun.
Baltimore County Public Schools began using the AI-based gun detection system last year. The technology scans school cameras for shapes that resemble firearms and automatically alerts security teams and local police.
Allen’s grandfather, Lamont Davis, said the incident should never have escalated that far. “Nobody would want this to happen to their child,” he said. “No one.”
In a letter to parents, the school principal confirmed that an alert had been triggered but was quickly canceled after confirming there was no weapon. The district said counseling was offered to students affected by the event.
The AI software, developed by Omnilert, remains in use across Baltimore County schools. The company declined to comment on the incident or the school’s handling of it.
SOURCE: blacknews.com