Former Director of Homeland Security for South Carolina, Major General Steve Siegfried Joins ShotSpotter-Centurist Team as Vice Chairman
Atlanta, GA and Mountain View, CA – February 16, 2004 — ShotSpotter, Inc., the country's leading developer of gunshot location systems and technology, and Centurist Systems, Inc., a leader in defense and aerospace security technology, today announced that the former director of Homeland Security for the State of South Carolina from 2001 to 2003, US Army Major General (Ret.) Steve Siegfried, has taken the position of vice chairman of the joint venture.
ShotSpotter was contact by the FBI in late 2003 and deployed the first of its ShotSpotter GLS Systems within days. "The ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System does exactly what it promises to do," said Sergeant Ross Staggs, Detective Bureau, Franklin County Sheriff's Department. "Knowing the precise location and timing of a shooting within seconds is crucial, and knowing whether the shooter was moving, which the ShotSpotter system also tells us, is even more important."
"I couldn't be more pleased to be joining the ShotSpotter-Centurist team," remarked General Siegfried. "This venture is about technology that is vitally important to the health and safety of citizens of this country. Using the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System, cities can, for the first time, act instantaneously on the threat of illegal gunfire."
"We're honored to have the General on board," commented Scott Manderville, Chairman of Centurist Systems. "What Steve brings is both a depth of experience in military affairs and real-world experience in the arena of Homeland Security."
"We couldn't have picked a better spokesperson for our technology," added Dr. Robert L. Showen, president and chief scientist of ShotSpotter. "With ShotSpotter now deployed in several cities nationwide, it has become increasingly important for us to interact with the highest levels of government and law enforcement, and General Siegfried has forty years of experience doing precisely that."
ShotSpotter and Centurist announced their joint venture in late 2003. The venture's first two products are based on technology already being sold domestically. The first, a soldier-portable gunshot detection system, uses ShotSpotter's patented filtering techniques and Centurist's unique command of wireless and other technologies to produce a best-of-breed live-fire detection system. The second, a vehicle-mounted system designed specifically for convoy protection, augments the soldier system and provides further capabilities unique to mobile installations.
The ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System uses the principle of acoustic triangulation to provide accurate locations for gunshot events in urban environments, using only a few sensors for every square mile. Dispatchers can monitor these events and send help to citizens immediately. ShotSpotter systems detect gunfire up to two miles away, and the system is designed to filter out local sounds as well as echoes often prevalent in the urban environment.
About ShotSpotter, Inc., (www.shotspotter.com)
ShotSpotter, Inc., the leading developer of gunshot location systems and technology, is based in Santa Clara, CA. ShotSpotter's flagship product, which detects gunfire across large urban areas using a small number of inexpensive and easy-to-deploy sensors, currently protects the citizens of cities nationwide, from Los Angeles, CA to Washington, DC. Its products recently assisted the FBI and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in identifying and capturing the Columbus, OH highway sniper suspect. In 2000, ShotSpotter was honored for its technology vision and leadership when got won the Computerworld Smithsonian Laureate Award, having been nominated by William H. Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, and the Smithsonian added its technology to the museum's permanent collection. With technology covered by numerous patents, the company also offers products to the law enforcement, homeland security and military markets. ShotSpotter technology has consistently produced arrests and weapons confiscations nationwide and has helped reduce gunfire and crime rates in cities that deploy it.
For more information, please contact
Gregg Rowland
Senior VP, Sales and Marketing
ShotSpotter, Inc.
Toll Free +1 (888) 274-6877 x219
Direct +1 (562) 650-2673
gregg@shotspotter.com