Jan 24, 2012

By Tom Plahutnik, Web Editor/Producer

WNEM.com

SAGINAW, MI (WNEM) - A judge has ruled that evidence collected by Saginaw's gunshot tracking system, ShotSpotter, can be used in a homicide trial.

Lawyers for 19-year-old Donte Houston wanted information from the Saginaw Police's ShotSpotter system thrown out.

Houston is accused of opening fire at an intersection in June 2010 and a stray bullet killed a 70-year-old woman.

The high-tech piece of equipment in Saginaw was instrumental in the conviction of two teens charged with armed robbery and assault in May of 2010.

According to the Saginaw News, prosecutors used audio recordings from ShotSpotter to prove Gregory M. Ashworth and Jason T. Tarver robbed a man of his sunglasses and money at gunpoint in early July 2009.

Police used the global positioning system to track the time and origin of the gunshots, as supported by witnesses who testified in the case.

The city purchased ShotSpotter in 2008. The system is supposedly accurate to within a few feet of the origin of the gunshots. It works by relying on a sonar device placed on a building and can provide surveillance out to a radius of a mile wide. Numerous microphones strategically placed within the radius of the sonar's effective range allow the system to triangulate where exactly the shots originate.

As of Jan. 10 of this year, the Saginaw city manager has submitted a request to city council to fix Saginaw's ShotSpotter equipment.

He wants the council to approve $10,000 in repairs to fix two of three substations that are currently not functioning.

It's not certain what caused the damage to the gear that allows police to pinpoint where gunshots are fired. The fix involves replacing cables and purchasing hardware, as well as labor charges to make the necessary repairs. According to authorities, the repairs must be carried out or the ShotSpotter system cannot properly function.

Other cities that utilize ShotSpotter include Washington, Oakland, CA, and Minneapolis. The City of Flint has said it will utilize ShotSpotter technology in the future.