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Benefits

The system and its capabilities allow Public Safety agencies to monitor specific areas using acoustic surveillance and react both tactically and strategically to crimes, threats, patterns, and trends.

Increases the Intelligence of Gunfire Related Violent Crime

Customer agencies indicate reporting rates to 9-1-1 of incidences of gunfire to be as low as 20%. When incidents are reported to 9-1-1, the callers rarely can provide an accurate or meaningful location of where the discharge(s) occurred. With a ShotSpotter GLS in place, an agency has closer to 100% awareness of gunfire activity with precise time and location data for each. In addition to the real-time alerts that provide dispatchers and first responders with an exact location and enhanced situational awareness, all gunfire activity is logged and retained for forensic use and crime analysis. This greater intelligence is invaluable for CompStat and intelligence-led policing efforts.

Increases Public Safety

Where deployed, the ShotSpotter GLS detects more gunfire and other explosive events than are reported to 9-1-1. Customer agencies report reductions of violent crime as much as 35%; reductions of overall gunfire rates to as much as 80% that includes celebratory gunfire as well as violent crime based gunfire. These results come about due to increased arrests, convictions, weapons confiscations, and the deterrence effect that results from an agency’s responsiveness and show of force.

Increases First Responder Effectiveness and Safety

The following benefits are realized because the ShotSpotter GLS alerts enable rapid response to a precise location of gunfire events:

  1. Arrive to the scene best prepared to safely handle the situation
  2. Increased likelihood of locating perpetrators still on scene or nearby
  3. Increased likelihood of locating witnesses still on scene or nearby
  4. Prevent further escalation of violence
  5. Increased likelihood of locating victims in need of medical assistance still on scene or nearby and shortening the time for emergency medical services to arrive
  6. Location and preservation of evidence

Situational Awareness Information Adds to the Common Operating Picture

Every incident captured by the ShotSpotter GLS includes the precise location and direction of travel if moving, audio data that can reveal the weapon caliber, the number of rounds fired, and the number of people involved. With this comprehensive and accurate situational awareness, dispatchers, supervisors, and commanders can more efficiently prioritize and deploy an appropriate force response.

Enhances Investigations and Prosecution Cases

The ShotSpotter system directs first responders to the exact crime scene resulting in the preservation and collection of physical evidence; more so than would be available in the absence of having a GLS to increase incident awareness and direct responders and investigators to an exact location. Increased evidence availability, including the ability to confirm multiple shootings committed by the same weapon, are invaluable to investigations and district attorneys ability to build strong prosecution cases.

Drives Targeted Enforcement with Built-in Crime Analysis Tools

Every incident detected by the system contributes to a database of information that can be searched, sorted, and analyzed. Analytic reports readily reveal patterns, trends, and hot-spots that can drive strategies to suppress violence at known areas and times, as well as to ward off credible threats. By combining ShotSpotter GLS data with other sources of data such as persons on probation and parole living at or very near to residences where gunfire incidents occur increases the number of weapon confiscations and arrests. Having precise shooting locations also allows agencies to infer a possible shooter or target, enabling proactive policing to thwart retaliations and escalations of violence. Additional specific uses of the GLS data can be used to:

  1. Identify repeat gunfire incidents at or near the same location
  2. Identify people on parole and probation that are possibly in violation of no-firearm conditions
  3. Identify potential future shooting locations due to retaliation
  4. Identify gunfire trends and patterns that can be addressed with directed patrols and other zero tolerance missions

Enables Efficient Utilization of Assets

Armed with an increased awareness and knowledge of what is transpiring within a specific area, responding agencies can pro-actively apply resources when and where they are most needed. In addition, they are also armed with data to justify specific increases in assets and resources.

Drive Down Violent Crime through Deterrence

The ShotSpotter GLS provides a basis for zero-tolerance missions, where agencies can direct patrols including adding resources from Sheriff and state police departments to immediately respond to any gunfire incident. Such showing of force results in a clear awareness that results in deterrence. Supplementing such missions with community outreach programs to convey that gunfire is being monitored in the community and that it will not be tolerated reinforce and increase deterrence.

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For more information, please see our documentation or contact a ShotSpotter representative