ShotSpotter, a provider of gunshot detection solutions that help law enforcement officials and security personnel identify, locate and deter gun violence, has announced that seven new cities have recently deployed ShotSpotter technology in their communities.
The new cities include Cincinnati, Ohio; Jacksonville, Florida; Louisville, Kentucky; Newburgh, New York; Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Syracuse, New York and St. Louis County, Missouri – joining the more than 90 jurisdictions that already rely on ShotSpotter to ensure a fast, accurate response to gunfire incidents. Three existing ShotSpotter cities, New York City, Chicago and Birmingham have also recently expanded their coverage areas.
Gunshot detection
ShotSpotter provides real-time alerts to law enforcement of detected gunfire so that they can arrive at the precise location of a shooting event safely and quickly. With the speed of response, officers can be on the scene to aid victims, interview witnesses, and collect forensic evidence. This improves the overall effectiveness of an agency in identifying and apprehending shooters, and taking illegal guns off the streets.
“We are excited to be working with police departments in successfully implementing gunshot detection solutions as a critical component of their gun violence prevention efforts," said Ralph Clark, CEO of ShotSpotter. “Cities are seeing positive outcomes and improved community engagement as a result of their agency’s ShotSpotter adoption and integration with best practices execution. We are thrilled with all of our customer collaborations that are making a real difference in improved public safety for all, especially in those at-risk neighbourhoods who also deserve community peace.”
"ShotSpotter is already alerting us to specific addresses that we were not aware were inundated with random gunfire incidents" |
Positive impact
“After just four weeks of using ShotSpotter, we are already seeing a positive impact from the technology,” said Cincinnati Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate. “We have three square miles of coverage in one of our most problematic communities for shooting violence and have had over sixty activations in just a month’s time.”
“ShotSpotter is already alerting us to specific addresses that we were not aware were inundated with random gunfire incidents,” Neudigate continued. “In addition, ShotSpotter works well with our established surveillance camera system; we recently caught a running gun battle on video that we would never have known about had we not received the alert. ShotSpotter technology holds great promise for helping to reduce gun violence in the City of Cincinnati as part of an overall gun violence reduction strategy.”
Expansion to coverage areas
According to Lieutenant Jim Cirillo, Louisville Metro Police Department, “ShotSpotter’s technology product has done exactly what they promised it to do.”
In recent months, three existing ShotSpotter cities – New York City, Chicago and Birmingham – have undergone recent expansions to their coverage areas. New York City began implementing ShotSpotter in 2015 and currently covers 57 square miles, an increase of 17.8 square miles since the beginning of 2017. In Chicago, ShotSpotter was first deployed in the 7th and 11th districts, then in the 15th and 9th. In September 2017, their sixth district also went live with ShotSpotter and the 10th district will go live soon. The city of Birmingham doubled their ShotSpotter coverage from eight to 16 square miles.
In addition, the University of Alabama (UA) Police Department has added ShotSpotter to help make its campus safer. UA becomes one of eight universities in the country to invest in the ShotSpotter gunfire detection technology.
