ShotSpotter helps crack gun crimes in Rochester
November 30, 2008
By Stephanie Veale
Democrat and Chronicle
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Rochester may have been on the cutting edge when it installed a gunfire detection system called ShotSpotter 2 1/2 years ago.
The system has helped officers make progress in four homicide cases and has led to arrests in other gun crimes, said Rochester police Sgt. Mark Beaudrault. And the technology is gaining popularity nationwide.
Rochester was the first city in the Northeast and the eighth city in the nation to set up ShotSpotter. The system went live in mid-2006. Since then, more than 20 cities — including Boston, Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and New Orleans — have purchased ShotSpotter. Nassau County and Troy, Rensselaer County, are the only other New York locales with the technology; both adopted it this year.
ShotSpotter Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., says it has expanded into worldwide markets in recent months and hopes to sign on an additional six cities by the end of the year, said spokesman Gregg Rowland.
After some glitches with the system in its first weeks here, ShotSpotter is now an integral part of crime-fighting for Rochester police. The system's sensors are positioned at confidential locations throughout the city, and . Beaudrault says ShotSpotter often provides vital information to officers responding to incidents involving gunfire.
When 17-year-old Jamel Wigington was shot on Thurston Road in June 2007, ShotSpotter was the sole source reporting the shooting, Beaudrault said. Without ShotSpotter, the violence would have gone unreported, and the victim would not have received critical care at the scene.
Wigington died the day after he was shot, but "ShotSpotter did provide a chance for survival," Beaudrault said.
ShotSpotter played a role in another homicide that summer. Carmella Rodgers, 15, was shot to death at a house party on Rohr Street on June 16, 2007, and ShotSpotter helped police collect physical evidence that they wouldn't have located otherwise. The system can tell police from which direction a gun was fired, and can point them to a general location for casings and other evidence. No one has been arrested yet in connection with Rodgers' death.
Earlier this year, ShotSpotter even helped police make a homicide arrest. The system was the only source reporting a shooting on Sept. 18, when 15-year-old Donald Stevens was shot on Hudson Avenue as he walked to his girlfriend's house. Because of ShotSpotter, police got to the scene faster and were able to interview important witnesses.
Such witnesses often disperse quickly, Beaudrault said. But in this case, police collected sufficient information and evidence to arrest Blake Alford of Sherman Street, who now faces first-degree robbery and second-degree murder charges.
ShotSpotter employees upgrade the system once or twice a year and also do retrainings, Rowland said.
"We try to keep everybody up at the same level," he said.
Cities with ShotSpotter pay 15 percent of the initial cost of their system in annual upkeep fees, Rowland said. Rochester secured ShotSpotter with $310,000 in federal funding.
Beaudrault says ShotSpotter is very accurate. Whenever the system is activated, dispatchers can listen to the recording and double check that the sound was a gunshot.
When in doubt, they send a car, Beaudrault said.
"When you listen to some of these playbacks, it's chilling to think that people are out there discharging these things as often as they are," Beaudrault said. "People that have guns and are discharging them, chances are greater that they're going to get apprehended with them, with the system being as accurate as it is."
STVEALE@DemocratandChronicle.com
SOURCE: Democrat and Chronicle
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