Baltimore police release body cam of teen being detained, AI system mistakes chips for gun

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Baltimore, MD - The Baltimore Police Department has released body camera footage Saturday of a 16-year-old student being detained after an A.I. gun detection system, developed by security company Omnilert, mistook his bag of chips for a gun.

Authorities said on Monday, around 7:20 p.m., Precinct 11-Essex officers responded to Kenwood High School for a report of a suspicious person with a weapon.

Taki Allen was sitting with friends after football practice when armed police officers suddenly surrounded him.

At 7:25 p.m. on October 20, body camera footage captured one police officer asking Allen, "You got a gun on you?" Allen replied, "No, what?" Officers then asked if Allen had anything blue on him, like a phone, which he replied that only his shoes were blue.

Allen was searched and police determined he wasn't in possession of any weapons.

"The cameras around the system that pick up on things that look like guns, I guess just the way you guys were eating chips, Doritos, whatever, it picked it up as a gun. That's all," one officer said.

Allen was then let go.

The software, introduced last year, scans existing school surveillance cameras for signs of weapons. If a potential threat is detected, it alerts law enforcement in real time.

In a statement, Omnilert expressed regret, acknowledging that the image “closely resembled a gun being held.” The company called it a “false positive,” but defended the system’s response, stating it “functioned as intended: to prioritize safety and awareness through rapid human verification.”