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SONIC ALERT, 2024
Gunshot Detection & Alert System for Schools Groups
A design solution for detecting and alerting gun shootings in schools
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My Role
UX Research
Conceptualisation
UX Design
Team
Aneesha Chinni
Mukund Bhat
Chen Meng
Pranit Jena
Vaishanav Inabhatula
Timeline
4 months
Tools
Figma
Photoshop
Illustrator
Project Overview
The rise in gun violence incidents within educational institutions has become a serious concern in the US, posing a significant threat to the safety and well-being of our students, teachers, and staff. The causes of school gun shootings are complicated, and it is challenging to stop the school gun shooting from happening. On the other hand, many more lives can be saved if students, teachers, and staff can be alerted in the shortest time once the school gun shooting occurs. The need for a robust and effective School Gun Shooting Alert System is significant to mitigate the potential harm caused by such incidents.
Seconds Matter when Shots are Fired
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0 min
12.5 min
Average duration of a shooting incident
Police response gap
18 min
Department of Homeland Security research reveals that the average duration of an active shooter incident at a school is 12.5 minutes. In contrast, the average response time for law enforcement is 18 minutes*. Response times must be improved.
Reality of gun shooting issues
57x
more school shootings than any other developed country
21x
Children aged 5-14 more likely to be fatally shot
23x
Adolescences aged 15-24 more likely to be fatally shot
77% of mass shooters who committed crimes between 1966 and 2019 got their guns legally
Who does it and why?
Around 50% of these shootings are done by students and former students. Rest shootings are done by staff, teachers, parents, relatives, SROs etc.
The most common reason is escalation of disputes due to bullying. Other reasons include anger over grades, bullying, racism, intentional property damage etc.
Current Security
MEASURES
School Resource Officers
Having trained law enforcement officers on campus to provide security and respond to emergencies.
Emergency Preparedness
Conducting regular lockdown, evacuation, and active shooter drills to ensure everyone knows how to respond in an emergency.
Controlled Access
Keeping exterior doors locked during school hours. Requiring visitors to check in, provide identification, and wear visitor badges.
Surveillance
Installing cameras throughout the campus to monitor activity and deter potential threats.
CHALLENGES
Staffing Shortages
Insufficient numbers of trained security personnel, including school resource officers (SROs) and mental health professionals.
Mental Health:
There is often insufficient mental health support for students, which can result in unresolved issues escalating into violence.
Bullying and Social Isolation
Bullying & social isolation can contribute to students feeling disconnected or harboring feelings of anger & resentment, which can lead to violent actions.
Manual Alerting
Manually alerting authorities & initiating emergency procedures can take precious time, which is precious in situations like these where every second counts.
The Goal
The fundamental goal of our project is to explore and create an innovative solution that improves the efficiency and timeliness of informing appropriate authorities and school employees in the case of an emergency situation, such as a school shooting. The goal is to design a system that may effectively shorten response times while potentially reducing the impact of such events. This study will serve as the foundation for our design project, which will focus on user-centric solutions to this critical problem.
School staff (teaching staff and school security team): They are in charge of student safety and are frequently the first responders in the school setting.
Target Users
Law enforcement: They receive notifications of an active shooter situation with all the required school details once the shooter is comfired
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PROBLEM STATEMENT
How can we improve our communication process to quickly alert school staff and law enforcement during a school shooting, so we can improve police response time and reduce the severity of the incident?
Primary Reserach
Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, obtaining details from school staff and the police proved challenging. Nonetheless, we were able to gather some insights by speaking with a school county director, police officers, a student, and Reddit users.
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Police - Existing app that alerts about shootings, have to attend every 911 call including false alarms
Student - University of Chicago shooting 2021 witness; insights on how they couldn't recognize the gunshot, no communication, leading to confusion
Director of a school county - Existing physical Panic buttons, lockdown procedure and safety rooms.
Digital Ethnography
Understanding experiences of people who have gone through this incident through YouTube vlogs, reddit & related forums, research papers and existing technologies
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Analyzing observations - Affinity Mapping
Initially we just jotted down all our research findings on why and how these shootings happen in a whiteboard. Later on we analysed to find any patterns.
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Organized research findings into categories: Gun Access, Issues at School/Home, Perceptions During Shooting, and Student Opinions on Security Measures.
We realized that our ability to address students' mental health is limited, especially since some schools are already doing a commendable job in that area. This led us to focus on the current security measures in schools, seeking to understand students' perspectives and explore improvements that could make these measures more effective.
Journey Map (Current)
We created a journey map to understand how the shooter navigates the shooting incident which includes before, during and after the Attack. And also understand the corresponding emotions during the different phases of the journey.
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2 mins
6 mins
4 mins
12 mins
In an average shooting incident, someone from the school manually calls 911 after the 8 min mark, and then the police typically arrives in 5-6 mins.
What if the police gets informed of the shooting as soon as first gunshot is fired? This would save 6 mins which could potentially save many lives.
Identifying pain points and turning them into actionable solutions
Confusion and Audibility Issues:
Students and staff frequently do not hear or misinterpret the sound of gunfire, figuring it is just a random loud noise, resulting in delayed police notification.
Panic and Uncertainty:
In such situations, people frequently panic and, unsure of the appropriate course of action, can run aimlessly, which is made worse by the bystander effect.
Create a system that sends clear and unambiguous notifications, ensuring that all individuals on the premises and the police are made aware of an emergency as soon as it occurs, eliminating confusion and response time.
1.
Reliance on Manual Emergency Calls:
In emergency situations, the necessity for manual effort to phone 911 can be burdensome and time-consuming.
False Alarms
Swatting or false alarms might cause authorities to underestimate the intensity of threats.
Integrate an automated 911 calling capability that activates when an emergency is detected, minimizing the time and manual effort required to notify authorities.
2.
3.
Create a system that automatically notifies the police department without relying solely on one or two people, assuring a quick and uniform reaction in every circumstance.
4.
Implement verification procedures to reduce false alarms and ensure credibility. Furthermore, the system should be capable of communicating the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) to responding units in real-time, providing them with critical information even in the midst of an emergency.
For every identified pain point, we created actionable goals to build an alerting system that aims to reduce police response time and reduce incident severity.
Product Sketch Iterations
Final Product Sketches
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It detects the gunshot through its mics and camera.
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Our microphone would be tuned to detect the specific frequency and decibel range of gunshots.
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After the microphone detects the sound of a gunshot, the camera starts recording a 10-second video clip, centered on the time of the detection.
Product Journey | How SonicAlert works | Installation
Product Journey | How SonicAlert works | During Active Shooter
Product Journey | How SonicAlert works | During False Alarms
Screen Low Fi Mockups
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SonicAlert | Staff Action Screens
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SonicAlert | Police Action Screens
Feedback Received
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Our professor mentioned that his first reaction to hearing gunshots would be to initiate a lockdown rather than checking his phone.
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It would be helpful to include a feature in the app that provides a safe route or safe place, along with real-time updates on the shooter's location.
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What if none of the teachers are able to check their phones when the alert comes in? What would happen in that scenario?
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Evacuation Strategy: Create enhanced, dynamic evacuation methods based on real-time data from the detection system. This would include smart route signage and regular training for students and staff.
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Implement an automated lockdown system that is activated by the gunshot detection system. During lockdowns, this system would regulate access within the school, automatically secure regions, and offer clear communication.
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Enhanced Gun Detection with AI: Use AI to improve the gunshot detection system for faster and more accurate threat identification. The system would improve accuracy and communication with emergency services by learning from new data.
These changes aim to make schools safer by improving our system's threat detection, response coordination, and emergency management capabilities.
Future Scope
Reflections
Working on the SonicAlert project offered deep insights into the complexities of addressing school shootings through technology. One significant reflection is the challenge of designing solutions for sensitive topics like gun violence. Balancing the need for effective security measures with the emotional and psychological impacts on users required careful consideration. It highlighted the importance of empathy in design, ensuring that while the technology addresses urgent safety concerns, it also respects the users' need for a sense of normalcy and security without instilling fear or alienation.
This project emphasized the delicate balance between innovation and sensitivity, reminding us that technology must be designed with both functionality and humanity in mind, especially when dealing with topics as sensitive as school shootings.
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© 2025 Created with love & lots of coffee by Aneesha Chinni 💗☕