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Researchers At Carnegie Mellon University Develop Video System To Locate Mass Shooters Using Smartphones

PITTSBURGH (KDKA)-- Experts at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a method for authorities to track mass shooters right from their smartphones.

Our partners at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette say three or more smartphones could calculate the exact direction the shots are fired from.

Research professor Alexander Hauptmann calls the system Video Event Reconstruction and Analysis (VERA).

He says the system may be useful as a back-up option for public safety officials.

Experts believe that military and intelligence agencies are already developing technology such as this one.

"We think the human rights community must have the same types of tools. It provides a necessary check on state power," said fellow researcher Jay D. Aronson, a professor of history at CMU and director of the Center for Human Rights Science.

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