Evolv Supports Missing Guns To Reduce False Alarms

While Evolv marketed "weapons-free zones" with "touchless," "frictionless" screening, claiming unprecedented convenience and security that, privately, Evolv knew it could not deliver.

Watch the video below, excerpted from Evolv's own presentation, showing how Evolv deliberately misses guns to reduce its significant false alert problems:

Deleted by Evolv

Evolv deleted its video immediately after IPVM inquired, refusing to comment despite us providing them five days to respond.

Chart Showing Weapons Missed By Evolv

The chart below, based on Evolv's manager's statement, demonstrates what types of guns and weapons Evolv knowingly can miss at each sensitivity setting Evolv supports:

Evolv has even fought to hide public knowledge of Evolv's supported sensitivity settings, alleging disclosing it is "irresponsible and makes the public less safe" rather than Evolv deceiving the public into believing they can deliver far more than they can.

Evolv has never publicly admitted to missing guns, despite reported incidents (1, 2, 3). This newly uncovered evidence shows that Evolv not only knew it would miss guns but actually built settings that miss many of the most widely used models, such as Glock G19s, to reduce false alarms.

But just last month, Evolv's CEO reiterated Evolv's stance that "unless you have a weapon, you can walk right in," and people "know when they get in, there's no weapon there."

The company knew that accomplishing "frictionless" screening without the significant false alarms on everyday objects of their much-maligned competitors meant Evolv would have to - on purpose - support missing guns, sacrificing security for convenience.

Evolv Presentation Explains Missing Guns to Minimize Alarm Rates

During a January 15, 2024, presentation for its reseller Integrated Protection Services, Evolv's Midwest sales manager Kevin Rabinowitz, who reports selling 400+ Evolv systems (contract value of ~$50 million), explained what guns Evolv expects to miss at each of its seven sensitivity settings, how they impact false alarms, and even what settings were used at the Super Bowl.

At settings A and B, Evolv's sales manager said, "you're looking at large guns...[and] you're looking at minimal alarm rates." For example, "where we've used a B setting is at the perimeter of the Super Bowl," trying to detect "a press trigger bomb or an AR-15," but "maybe they had a 38," presumably referring to a .38 caliber pistol.

Setting C detects "the Glock 19 only, and like, bigger firearms." A Glock G19, pictured below, is a compact size 9mm handgun that is among the top-selling guns in the US. A standard-size magazine contains 15 rounds; the Federal Assault Weapons Ban defines a "high-capacity magazine" as >10 rounds.

For sensitivity "D, you get into the compact, subcompact [pistols]," such as the subcompact the Sig Sauer P365, while at sensitivity E, "you're getting into your micros [micro-compact pistols], your .38 specials, your 380 Ruger LCPs."

Sensitivity F is for "novel items like the one-shot Derringers" and "smaller knives." He said F is rarely used, and "the higher sensitivity, the more false alarms." Most customers, he said, use sensitivities D or E.

While the sales manager's comments provide important new insight into what Evolv expects to detect at various sensitivity settings, they should not be relied upon as definitive statements of what Evolv will detect at specified settings.

For instance, at sensitivity D he says, "you get into the [detection of] compact, subcompact [pistols]...E you're getting into your micros, your 0.38 specials, your 380 Ruger LCPs." [emphasis added]

Evolv's salesperson did not clarify whether "getting into" detection means sometimes detecting these guns or consistently detecting them. (In fact, Evolv detected only 92% of micro-compact pistols during its NCS4 testing at setting E, a more sensitive setting than D.)

Evolv's Sensitivity Slider Examined

While Evolv marketed its Cortex AI "threat AI classifier" as a core innovation, Evolv fought hard to keep from the public that they support a simplistic sensitivity slider, much like the competitors they call "stupid," "dumb analog devices" that "go off every time." This simplistic slider, with levels A, B, C, D, E, F, G, rather than AI, controls what weapons Evolv misses to meet their marketing claims of "touchless" and "frictionless" screening.

For more background on Evolv sensitivity settings, see Evolv's Secret Metallic Sensitivity Setting And The Risk Of Missing Weapons and Evolv Becoming More Of A Metal Detector With New "G" Sensitivity Setting.

Moreover, while Evolv denigrates its competitors, Evolv's sensitivity settings are similar to those of metal detectors. For example, CEIA and Garrett's manuals (widely used metal detector manufacturers) describe similar settings:

Evolv's Approach Vs. Metal Detectors Approach

Evolv's approach, which prioritizes reducing false alarms at the risk of missing weapons, is the direct opposite of that of conventional metal detectors. Metal detectors are usually set to highly sensitive settings as their goal is to find weapons rather than to optimize visitor experience.

Evolv and 'Security Theater'

Despite bashing "stupid metal detectors" for being "theater security" (more commonly known as "security theater"), screening people with devices that do not detect dangerous firearms while assuring them otherwise is security theater.

Endangering The Public

Organizations can choose not to use security screening or to use security screening that knowingly missing guns.

What is deceptive and endangers public safety is Evolv repeatedly assuring the public that it will detect guns and then privately telling its resellers that they can not detect guns for the sake of convenience.

Evolv, under investigation by the FTC and now SEC, has deceived the public and investors into believing it does far more than it knows it can, with missing guns being critical.