Seattle considers high-tech gunshot detector to curb crime
Jul 12, 2012, 5:42 AM | Updated: 7:02 am
About 70 cities are using Shotspotter to help pinpoint gunfire and help cops respond quicker to crime. (Image courtesy Shotspotter)
(Image courtesy Shotspotter)
With Seattle continuing to reel from a record year of gun
violence, the city council Thursday will take a closer
look at a high-tech way to determine where a gun has gone
off seconds after it’s fired.
Councilmembers will be hearing about “ShotSpotter”, an
audio monitoring system of microphones set up in targeted
areas of a city. When an audio source picks up gunfire,
police get “instant analysis” of the number of shots
fired, shooter position, speed and direction of travel if
the shooter is moving, and the exact time of gunfire.
“It allows law enforcement to respond very quickly,
hopefully saving lives,” says Ralph Clark, president of SST
Inc., the company that makes “ShotSpotter.”
Over 60 cities around the country have been using the
system. Police in Oakland, California say it recorded
2,000 instances of gunfire and helped them get 340
guns off the streets. But earlier this year, officials in
Trenton stopped an expansion of its gunshot detection
program after several false alarms and one device failed
to detect a shooting just blocks away, according to a
report by New Jersey radio station WBGO.
The company offers a yearly plan that includes set up,
training and monitoring at a cost between $40,000 and
$60,000 per square mile.
While there are likely to be concerns raised by privacy
and civil rights activists, the company says the system
of microphones does not pick up or record human
conversations.
Clark says the system is especially valuable because most
people don’t report when shots are fired.
“A good 80 percent of the time when people hear gunshots they
don’t call 911,” says Clark.
City Councilman Bruce Harrell, who chairs the Public
Safety, Civil Rights and Technology, tells KING 5 it’s a
valuable way to help extend the reach of police and get
more guns off the street. He says in light of the 22
murders to strike the city this year including the May
massacre at North Seattle’s Cafe Racer, the city needs all
the help it can get.
“To be very honest with you, we’ve had too many wake up
calls in the city. We don’t need another wake up call,”
Harrell says.
