TD Garden using AI-based security screening system
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TD Garden is the latest sports arena to use AI to detect potential weapons at the door.
Why it matters: The downtown Boston arena says the AI-based detection tool can make security lines faster and safer.
Driving the news: TD Garden implemented a new security system developed by Evolv Technology, a Waltham-based security screening company.
- The arena also now "strongly discourages" visitors from bringing bags and won't allow any larger than 6" x 4" x 1.5."
- Visitors with bags over the limit will be directed to a mobile locker company on site, where they can store the bag during the event.
- Both changes took effect Saturday.
Details: Under the new system, multiple visitors can walk through a security lane without having to stop and have their wallets or phones checked, per a news release from TD Garden.
- Evolv says its technology can screen about 4,000 people an hour.
How it works: Evolv's system uses sensors inside rectangular towers that don't have an overhead rail, per Axios Denver.
- The system has a camera that can spot a potential weapons threat — like a gun, knife or explosive device — based on the object's shape, size and density.
- If it detects a threat, the system photographs the object and notifies the security staff
Zoom out: Evolv's system has been used in dozens of schools, stadiums and arenas nationwide.
Yes, but: The company faced criticism in recent years after its technology failed to detect certain weapons, per CBS.
- In 2022, a student smuggled a hunting knife into a New York school district and stabbed another student several times. The school had Evolv's system installed.
- A National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security study, commissioned by Evolv, found the system failed to detect 42% of knives and a "small number of guns," per CBS.
The other side: Evolv Technology co-founder Anil Chitkara told CBS the technology will keep improving, "but it will never be 100 percent, and that's why security professionals use a combination and a set of layers of security."