{"id":89191,"date":"2025-12-10T15:01:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/89191\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T15:01:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:01:05","slug":"sf-generals-ai-security-system-has-a-history-of-missing-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/89191\/","title":{"rendered":"SF General\u2019s AI security system has a history of missing weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a man walked into San Francisco General Hospital last Thursday and fatally stabbed a social worker<\/a>, he didn\u2019t have to pass a security screening.<\/p>\n

But even if he had entered the hospital\u2019s most secure facilities, which house the bulk of its departments, he and his 5-inch kitchen knife might not have been stopped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to interviews with hospital staff and documents reviewed by The Standard, San Francisco General installed AI-enabled weapons detectors which have a track record of missing some weapons. Massachusetts-based Evolv Technology has been accused of overstating its ability to detect knives and guns \u2014\u00a0last year, it settled with (opens in new tab)<\/a> the Federal Trade Commission over claims of false advertising, but did not admit wrongdoing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In at least one instance, it allegedly failed to detect weapons at SF General. On Aug. 14, a man walked into the building with a loaded gun and a set of brass knuckles in a backpack undetected, according to a hospital worker familiar with the matter. <\/p>\n

Security has proved to be a difficult balancing act, as the hospital has wrestled with<\/a> whether a stronger police presence might deter vulnerable patients from seeking care.<\/p>\n

SF General\u2019s frontline staff say they\u2019ve been voicing serious concerns about safety at the hospital campus for years \u2014 concerns they feel are not addressed with the installation of the new tech from Evolv.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat company seems to have a lot of problems,\u201d said Megan Green, a nurse on the hospital\u2019s workplace safety committee. \u201cHow was it able to get that contract?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Like Swiss cheese\u2019<\/p>\n

Traditional metal detectors generate magnetic fields. If you walk through a detector with a metal object, the field is disrupted, triggering an alarm. Metal belt buckles and keys set it off in the same way as handguns and knives.<\/p>\n

Evolv\u2019s sensors use similar magnetic fields, but they compare the signature of disruptions against a library of known weapons, according to patent documents. Evolv claims that, using machine learning, its detectors can distinguish between the magnetic signatures of guns and everyday objects such as phones and keys.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn real life, it turned out to be a little more complicated than that,\u201d said Nikita Ermolaev, a researcher at the security technology firm IPVM, which independently tests security products. The scanners cost upward of 20 times more than traditional metal detectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evolv\u2019s detectors have for years come under fire for allegedly failing to work as advertised.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2022, the BBC reported (opens in new tab)<\/a> that Evolv produced but did not release a report that found its detectors couldn\u2019t consistently flag knives and certain types of bombs. In 2023, a New York high schooler was stabbed to death (opens in new tab)<\/a> with a 9-inch knife that allegedly passed undetected through Evolv scanners.<\/p>\n

By 2024, New York City\u2019s trial of the scanners in its subway system was dubbed \u201cobjectively a failure (opens in new tab)<\/a>\u201d by critics, and the FTC accused the company of false marketing.<\/p>\n

Since then, Evolv has shuffled its executive ranks and improved its products, though Ermolaev said his firm has not been able to review how much more effective the detectors are.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Alexandra Ozerkis, Evolv\u2019s chief marketing officer, said the company \u201cstands behind our technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur technology has undergone rigorous third-party testing in recent years,\u201d Ozerkis said. \u201cThat being said, nothing is perfect all the time. Evolv customers are keenly aware of the fact that safety is never absolute. Rather, it is a balance of safety needs with venue requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Nov. 20 disclosure (opens in new tab)<\/a>, the Department of Public Health acknowledged that it was planning to use Evolv systems as \u201cpart of the workplace safety program to assist in identifying and minimizing workplace safety risks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The disclosure highlighted the need for weapons detection specifically. \u201cBased on the [Zuckerberg San Francisco General] annual security risk assessment, the lack of weapons detection is a contributing factor for patients entering the ZSFG hospital\/clinics armed with sharp-edged weapons and replica firearms.\u201d The hospital, along with all others in California, will be required by law to have weapons detection systems installed by March 2027 (opens in new tab)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Health said that the hospital was in the process of adding Evolv scanners in additional buildings, and would expedite installation because of the stabbing. \u201cScanners provide less intrusive screenings, minimizing patient anxieties who may be in crisis, as well as visitors,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cSince the weapons detections scanners were installed, thousands of weapons have been prevented from entering ZSFG, and the hospital continues to monitor the system\u2019s effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evolv\u2019s documentation shows its detectors can be set to different sensitivity levels. At higher levels, fewer weapons will be missed, but the detectors will set off more false-positives \u2014 meaning they function like traditional metal detectors, Ermolaev said.<\/p>\n

It is unclear what sensitivity level San Francisco General\u2019s detectors are set to. But on Monday, The Standard observed that the hospital\u2019s security screenings do not include bag checks or trays to deposit metal objects, which would be expected at high-sensitivity levels.<\/p>\n

The guest who entered the intensive care unit with a gun and brass knuckles in a backpack was unaware of the contents, the anonymous hospital worker said, having brought the bag to return it to a patient. It\u2019s unclear whether the visitor passed through the Evolv scanners, though the building\u2019s entrances are guarded by them. A representative for DPH did not confirm or deny the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with the implementation of this system, our campus has so many holes. It\u2019s like Swiss cheese in terms of security,\u201d said Heather Bollinger, an emergency room nurse. \u201cHealth care is the most dangerous profession in the country. That is just wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ermolaev said Evolv leases clients its detectors on four-year contracts that can\u2019t be canceled and cost as much as $120,000. Traditional metal detectors cost roughly $5,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a certain hospital in San Francisco does not want to install metal detectors because they look ugly, in their opinion, or they have this stigma of being a stupid device \u2014 that\u2019s entirely up to them,\u201d Ermolaev said. \u201cAs long as they know what they\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When a man walked into San Francisco General Hospital last Thursday and fatally stabbed a social worker, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2007,4735,101,103,102,104,106,105,34914],"class_list":["post-89191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-ai","tag-department-of-public-health","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-zuckerberg-san-francisco-general-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}