NV: RTC to expand AI gun detection program as part of safety push in Las Vegas Valley

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada is ramping up its use of artificial intelligence to detect guns across the valley's transit system, announcing today that it will expand its pilot program by more than 300% in an effort to better protect passengers and staff from firearm threats.

The RTC launched the pilot in 2024 at four facilities and then expanded the ZeroEyes AI-powered gun detection system to all eight of its transit centers.

ZeroEyes is an AI system that uses existing security cameras to detect visible guns in real time. The software analyzes billions of images daily and can alert authorities within a few seconds when a firearm appears on camera. Each alert is verified by trained military and law enforcement veterans at the company's 24-hour operations center who then notify Metro Police and RTC security.

The system in use for the RTC is supported by 270 video streams that provide comprehensive coverage, according to the agency.

The RTC was the first transit agency in the nation to use ZeroEyes.

"RTC's initial ZeroEyes implementation set a new benchmark for safety in public transportation systems nationwide," Mike Lahiff, CEO and cofounder of ZeroEyes, a Pennsylvania-based company, said in a statement. "We are honored to expand the deployment and continue protecting passengers and staff against gun-related threats.

ZeroEyes' partner, United Safety and Survivability Corp., began meeting with M.J. Maynard-Carey, CEO of the RTC, about two years ago when the agency was seeking more ways to increase safety for its riders and bus operators.

The county's contract with ZeroEyes is not to exceed $200,000 per year, which includes ongoing service and monitoring at all of the RTC locations.

"Safety has always been and will always be our top priority of the RTC, with our goal protecting the traveling public and the transit officers," Maynard-Carey said at a Sept. 30 news conference unrelated to ZeroEyes. "Our agency has made major safety improvements, and the results are clear in consistently low incident numbers."

Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, who is on the RTC board, told reporters last week that after the COVID-19 pandemic, the RTC was seeing more incidents of assaults and "disruptive" passengers on its buses.

In fiscal year 2020, the RTC recorded 179 passenger-on-passenger assaults, peaking two years later at almost 200 passenger-on-passenger assaults, according to data provided by the RTC. That number dropped to 99 assaults in 2024, but jumped again to 190 in 2025.

RTC data also shows that the number of passenger-on-bus-operator assaults in fiscal year 2020 was 42 — the highest in the six years of available data — but has decreased to 28 as of 2025.

The RTC last month announced other recent measures to boost safety, including a contract with Inter-Con Security to bring 300 additional armed officers to RTC facilities and the creation of the Panic Button Pilot Project.

The pilot program was introduced in May 2023 and rolled out last year, equipping bus drivers with nanodevices that, when pushed, send a distress signal to RTC security when an incident occurs. The bus driver's location is instantly sent to the RTC and safety response teams, reducing response times.

This year, Gov. Joe Lombardo also signed into law Senate Bill 290, which allows safety officers from the RTC to remove disruptive passengers from buses and bus stops.

Since increasing the number of armed security officers, providing bus drivers with GPS-enabled panic buttons and deploying ZeroEyes, the RTC has seen a 40% reduction in passenger-on-passenger assaults and a 26% drop in operator assaults, according to data from the RTC and ZeroEyes.

The American Public Transport Association has recognized the RTC nationally for its commitment to safety. In 2024, it gave its Innovation Award to the agency for the ZeroEyes deployment, and earlier this year, the RTC received the association's Bus Security Award for overall security efforts.

"Over the past two years, the RTC has made historic investments in safety and security to ensure riders and operators feel protected every day. Together, they help us fulfill our promise — safe, reliable and efficient transportation for all," said Henderson City Councilman Jim Seebock, the newest member of the RTC board of directors. "I'm excited about the progress we've made (and) even more optimistic about the positive outcomes ahead."

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