Boston Police & ShotSpotter Track Suspects

Boston Herald
By O’Ryan Johnson
May 23, 2010
The Boston Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center kicked in last week to help with the arrest of a teen who blasted a pistol in Dorchester - luckily hitting no one.

On Wednesday at about 7 p.m. the teen fired, not knowing that the instant the sound reached a nearby sensor, he became the target. The BPD’s shot-spotter, a system of computerized microphones placed throughout the city, picked up the gunshot on Claybourne Street.

The new technology triangulated his position and aimed a camera that zeroed in on the suspect and another man as they fled. By then, the scene was being watched three miles away at police headquarters by a detective, who radioed a description of the suspects to cops in the field. Cruisers on the lookout for the pair saw them on Dakota Street and stopped to question them.

At the same time, a K-9 officer in the area spoke with a resident who said the men had just emerged from a backyard she pointed out. There the dog, which was trained to smell explosives, found a firearm.

“All of these investments that we made in the past - the Real Time Crime Center, the ballistics dogs - they all come together with this case and we are able to take two people who terrorized the neighborhood and get them off the street,” police Commissioner Edward Davis said.

The system is built on the philosophy of community policing that was introduced more than a decade ago and has helped lead to an overall decline in crime over the years, police officials said.

“A lot of times you respond based on a radio description, and you don’t have a very good idea of exactly who is responsible. It’s hard to pick out the right person. With this, you’re getting very precise information of who was involved, and where they were going,” Davis said. “You’re not picking out the wrong person. You can avoid an inappropriate encounter with someone who wasn’t involved.”

View article http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1256671

Birmingham first city to get bullet beating Shotspotter technology

ShotSpotter makes it across the pond to the UK!

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2010/05/24/birmingham-first-city-to-get-bullet-beating-shotspotter-technology-97319-26504657/
BIRMINGHAM will be the first city in the country to introduce a sophisticated ‘bullet beater’ which can pinpoint the exact location of gunmen when they open fire.

The ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System can alert police to the scene of street shootings within seconds and is already being used across America to slash the country’s huge gun crime problem.

Its sensors can tell where and from what angle a shot was fired, nthe umber of weapons used, their calibre and even if a gunman was moving at speed.

The Safer Birmingham Partnership, which is behind the move, known as Project Safe and Sound, said it hoped the technology would help to continue the city’s gang-busting success.

Chief Supt Chris McKeogh, commander of Birmingham West and central police, said: “We’re delighted to be the first city in the UK to secure this technology and are confident that it will assist us in our continued efforts to reduce gun crime.

ShotSpotter Video - WCBS: Nassau County gun crime drops 32% since ShotSpotter debut

Nassau County, NY gun crime drops 32% since ShotSpotter debut

http://www.shotspotter.com/news/videoclips/2010/May/WCBS_2010-0414_NassauCounty.html