Beloit Police Say Gunfire Location System Helping Investigations
Acoustic Monitoring System Pinpoints Locations Of Gun Shots
April 16, 2009
Channel3000
BELOIT, Wis. -- Beloit police said that new technology that locates gunfire as soon as it happens has been online for a few weeks but it has already had some success.
The system, called ShotSpotter, costs more than $200,000, but Beloit police said it pays off by giving officers an edge fighting violent crime in the community.
"You want to catch those who are doing bad things out there," said Beloit Police Capt. William Tyler.
Earlier this month, a shootout in Beloit sent two victims to the hospital. It wasn't until they arrived at the emergency room that police learned what happened.
"It's disturbing in its own way that a shooting could occur in a residence, a residential neighborhood, and no one calls 911 -- no one. Not any of the victims, not the perpetrators, not even those who are shot and wounded," said Tyler.
But now, with the addition of the ShotSpotter acoustic monitoring system, police can pinpoint where and when gunshots are fired.
In its first few weeks, the system reported 117 events, differentiating between both firecrackers and gunshots, WISC-TV reported.
"We knew we were going to see an increase in those types of events, and we've seen that," Tyler said. "We've seen events come in, single gunshots, multiple gunshots, that have never been reported to 911, no one's ever called or anything. We got to areas and found physical evidence."
Officers in the field said that when responding to a high priority call like "shots fired," every second counts.
"There's always going to be a little bit of a delay from the time the event occurred to the time a citizen makes it to a phone, calls the number, the call taker takes the information, relays it to the dispatcher. In this manner, as soon as that ShotSpotter kicks off, the officers have that information within seconds," said Sgt. Dan Risse.
In the next few months, 25 Beloit police cars will also have access to the system, giving officers the ability to see when the ShotSpotter reports an event and listen to it from their vehicle.
"With this increased technology, they're going to be getting there much faster than before," said Tyler.
The ShotSpotter currently covers one square mile of the city, and another square mile could be added next year.
In that square mile, the system picks up everything -- criminal or not. Recently, officers responded to a report of multiple shots fired at a cemetery. It turns out a veteran was being laid to rest with a 21-gun salute. Police said it was a good test of the system.
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Erin Lopez |
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