Jan 05, 2012

By Amy Widner

OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

Federal earmarks to buy Shotspotter gunfire-locating technology are getting harder to come by, but a company representative said Wednesday that other communities are finding alternative ways to pay for the technology through grants and fundraisers.
Phil Dailly, Shotspotter southeast region director, gave a presentation on the technology at a special called Public Safety Committee meeting on crime Wednesday.

Pine Bluff Weed and Seed attempted in 2010 to gain $1.5 million in funding to bring the technology to Pine Bluff through a Congressional earmark, but the effort failed in a year in which the number of earmarks was drastically reduced. Dailly said the environment for earmarks has not improved, but that other communities have successfully pursued grants and private donors to pay for the technology, which costs about $40,000 per square mile per year. Shotspotter uses sensors to triangulate the location of gunfire in the target coverage area.

Dailly said the technology:

  • Helps law enforcement pinpoint the location where the shots were fired so that they can quickly find and get to the scene, equipped with more detailed knowledge about what awaits them;
  • Helps investigators interpret the evidence at crime scenes and determine things like where the shooter was standing, if they were in a moving vehicle and if there were multiple shooters;
  • Provides prosecutors with evidence that will stand up in court and help them reconstruct the events for jurors;
  • And provides law enforcement with data on where gunshots are being fired so that they can respond to trends with increased patrols and other tactics, tracking and demonstrating their progress to the public.

Dailly said the payment structure for the technology has undergone changes in recent years, making it more affordable. In the past, cities bought the Shotspotter equipment and then much of the rest of the work to utilize the data was left up to the cities. Now, Dailly said the company has switched to a subscription-based service in which Shotspotter provides the equipment, maintenance, data interception and interpretation, crime scene analysis and expert court testimony. Dailly said the technology can pinpoint the origin of gunshots within a maximum margin of error of 25 meters, but that most customers have reported the technology to be accurate to within 2 to 3 feet.

The information is communicated to police in 30 to 60 seconds after the shots are fired, he said. “If you talk to our customers, they’ll tell you we’re often within feet of where the event took place,” Dailly said. Without Shotspotter, Dailly said only about 25 percent of the shots fired in a city are called into 9-1-1. Even when shots are called in, it is difficult for the public to pinpoint where the shot was coming from and communicate that to police. The result is that police have a wide area to search, which results in wasted time and resources. “And remember, if someone has been shot and is bleeding, every second counts and being able to respond to that scene at that exact location is very critical,” Dailly said.

The technology helps improve public relations as well, Dailly said. When members of the public hear gunshots and then don’t see the police respond, they can get the impression that the police do not care when in fact, the real problem is that the shots aren’t being reported. Shotspotter makes sure the police can respond accurately to all gunshot incidents, sending a strong message to both criminals and law-abiding citizens.

Shotspotter typically recommends the technology be deployed in targeted areas of the community and not the whole city. But cities are encouraged not to tell the public exactly where the sensors are located, and Dailly said cities often see improvements in the crime statistics citywide, not just in the targeted areas. Dailly said the technology also can distinguish between different caliber guns and can help investigators determine if multiple guns were used in a crime. It also can determine the direction of fire, and if the shot was fired from a moving vehicle. The technology works best when shots are fired outdoors. If the shots are fired inside with all the windows and doors closed, it may not pick up the noise, Dailly said. The technology will not detect shots fired if a silencer is used. The technology has saved lives, Dailly said, alerting police to gunshots where they found shooting victims when no one had called police. Sixty-five U.S. communities have the technology, including large cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Birmingham, Ala., Springfield, Mo., and smaller communities that are similar in size to Pine Bluff.