http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/police_use_high_technology_to.html
By PATRICK JOHNSON
[email protected]
SPRINGFIELD - On a computer in the dispatch center at police headquarters, one can play back the audio from the last few moments of Alberto L. Rodriguez's life.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!
It's the sound of four crisp, evenly paced gunshots ripping through the night on Pine Street in the heart of the city's Six Corners neighborhood.
Rodriguez was shot and killed Oct. 14. He died at Baystate Medical Center. He was found in his car on Ashley Street, suffering from multiple gunshot injuries after going off the road and slamming into a parked vehicle. Police said Rodriguez apparently lost control of his car and crashed as he was fleeing from the shooter who remains at large.
The sound of the gunshots was recorded by a new police audio surveillance tool known as ShotSpotter that is taking hold in cities across the country that are plagued gun violence.
The system was installed without fanfare in July in high-crime neighborhoods covering about 3 square miles. At a cost of $450,000, the city purchased 62 audio sensors and the operating software from ShotSpotter Inc., a private company based in California.
Screenshot of the ShotSpotter system (click to enlarge).
Springfield police say the system should increase public safety by greatly increasing the speed with which police can respond to gunfire. Faster response times means a better chance of catching the shooter as well as getting aid to any wounded, police said.
"It cuts response times from three or four minutes to less than a minute," said Patrolman Carl D. Prairie, the department's technical systems manager.
It can take a minute or more for a resident hearing a gunshot to get to the phone and call 911, he said.
ShotSpotter can pinpoint the location of the shooting, down to within a few feet, and display it on a map for the dispatcher in less than 15 seconds, Prairie said.
In the Rodriguez shooting, cruisers were already racing to the area of 157 Pine St. before he crashed his car two blocks away from where he was shot.
Police never did get a 911 call about gunshots on Pine Street that night, according to Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Commissioner William J. Fitchet. Someone called to report the accident but not the gunshots, he said.
Without the ShotSpotter system, police might never have found the crime scene, he said.
Prairie said that is one of the advantages of the system.
"We get to pinpoint the location. When people call 911, unless they see it firsthand, they don't know the exact location," he said. "Plus we can play it back and have forensics that we never had before."
The department would like to expand the initial coverage area, but with the cost at $250,000 for each additional square mile, it will take some time. Springfield has an area of 32 square miles.
The system has yet to net any arrests, Delaney said, but he is confident that will change. "It's just a matter of time," he said.
It's also a matter of time until Springfield begins seeing other results from ShotSpotter, says Jack Pontious, the company's eastern regional sales manager.
Based on the track record of other cities using the detection system, Springfield over the next year should see firearms arrests go up and shooting incidents go down, he said. "There will also be a significant reduction in gunfire activities all around the sensors," Pontious said.
With police responding in seconds instead of minutes, the people shooting guns have a greater chance of getting caught before they can leave the scene, he said.
Company literature says ShotSpotter cities see on average a 35-percent reduction in violent crime and a 60 to 80 percent decline in gun fire.
The ShotSpotter technology has been around for about a dozen years, but only took off within law enforcement over the past five years.
The FBI in 2004 used the system in Columbus, Ohio, to track down a roving sniper who was terrorizing motorists on Interstate 270. The system led investigators right to the spot where the sniper had fired a shot. There, investigators found physical evidence which resulted in the arrest and conviction of a man.
The system is not a cure-all for urban violence, but it does help, according to Pontious. "It's just a tool," he said. "Without good police work, it's not going to be as effective."
Since 2004, ShotSpotter has been installed in 31 cities, including Washington, D.C., Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Rochester, N.Y., and Gary, Ind.
In New England, Boston installed it a year ago, and New Haven, Conn., is supposed to go on line in the next month, Pontious said. Another 10 cities are in varying stages of planning and installation, he said.
Gary, Ind., police used ShotSpotter to crack down on celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve 2006. Forty-five illegal guns were confiscated in one night.
Washington, D.C. police in September, 2007, were able to exonerate a police officer in the death of a 14-year-old suspect. The system was able to distinguish between the officer's 9mm and the suspect's .45 caliber handguns and determine the suspect opened fire first.
ShotSpotter works through a process the company calls "acoustic triangulation." As many as 15 to 20 sensors per square mile are spread out on rooftops and calibrated to detect loud noises like gunshots, motorcycles, firecrackers, or even engine backfiring.
"They listen for anything that goes bang, really," Pontious said.
When a sensor detects a loud noise, it keys in on the general direction from which the sound comes and relays it to a computer in the police station. The computer is able to take all the data from various sensors and combine it to get an exact position for where the gun was fired, Pontious said. It can also determine if the sound is a gunshot, firecracker or an engine backfiring, he said.
Since ShotSpotter has been online in Springfield, the number of gunshots police have responded to has actually increased by 60 percent, Prairie said. There have not been any more gun activity as much as police are now learning about more of them.
Gun shots have become so common in some neighborhoods that many residents never bother calling police to report them, he said. "We seldom get calls for shots fired," he said, adding that "people have become immune to gunshots" in some urban areas.
In fact, when the department was testing the sensors after installation, technicians fired off a total of 90 rounds in different locations, according to Prairie. "We got four phone calls," he said.
Residents need not worry that the sensor system poses a means for government to eavesdrop on their lives. The sensors are calibrated to detect gunshots and other loud noises but are not so sensitive that they can pick up conversations at street level, he said.
Sometimes after a gunshot, they will pick up screaming or the squeal of a fleeing vehicle but "we can't hear conversational voices from where we are," he said.
"We're not 'Big Brother' looking to listen to private conversations."
-----
This will do nothing to deter crime.
By PATRICK JOHNSON
[email protected]
SPRINGFIELD - On a computer in the dispatch center at police headquarters, one can play back the audio from the last few moments of Alberto L. Rodriguez's life.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!
It's the sound of four crisp, evenly paced gunshots ripping through the night on Pine Street in the heart of the city's Six Corners neighborhood.
Rodriguez was shot and killed Oct. 14. He died at Baystate Medical Center. He was found in his car on Ashley Street, suffering from multiple gunshot injuries after going off the road and slamming into a parked vehicle. Police said Rodriguez apparently lost control of his car and crashed as he was fleeing from the shooter who remains at large.
The sound of the gunshots was recorded by a new police audio surveillance tool known as ShotSpotter that is taking hold in cities across the country that are plagued gun violence.
The system was installed without fanfare in July in high-crime neighborhoods covering about 3 square miles. At a cost of $450,000, the city purchased 62 audio sensors and the operating software from ShotSpotter Inc., a private company based in California.
Screenshot of the ShotSpotter system (click to enlarge).
Springfield police say the system should increase public safety by greatly increasing the speed with which police can respond to gunfire. Faster response times means a better chance of catching the shooter as well as getting aid to any wounded, police said.
"It cuts response times from three or four minutes to less than a minute," said Patrolman Carl D. Prairie, the department's technical systems manager.
It can take a minute or more for a resident hearing a gunshot to get to the phone and call 911, he said.
ShotSpotter can pinpoint the location of the shooting, down to within a few feet, and display it on a map for the dispatcher in less than 15 seconds, Prairie said.
In the Rodriguez shooting, cruisers were already racing to the area of 157 Pine St. before he crashed his car two blocks away from where he was shot.
Police never did get a 911 call about gunshots on Pine Street that night, according to Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Commissioner William J. Fitchet. Someone called to report the accident but not the gunshots, he said.
Without the ShotSpotter system, police might never have found the crime scene, he said.
Prairie said that is one of the advantages of the system.
"We get to pinpoint the location. When people call 911, unless they see it firsthand, they don't know the exact location," he said. "Plus we can play it back and have forensics that we never had before."
The department would like to expand the initial coverage area, but with the cost at $250,000 for each additional square mile, it will take some time. Springfield has an area of 32 square miles.
The system has yet to net any arrests, Delaney said, but he is confident that will change. "It's just a matter of time," he said.
It's also a matter of time until Springfield begins seeing other results from ShotSpotter, says Jack Pontious, the company's eastern regional sales manager.
Based on the track record of other cities using the detection system, Springfield over the next year should see firearms arrests go up and shooting incidents go down, he said. "There will also be a significant reduction in gunfire activities all around the sensors," Pontious said.
With police responding in seconds instead of minutes, the people shooting guns have a greater chance of getting caught before they can leave the scene, he said.
Company literature says ShotSpotter cities see on average a 35-percent reduction in violent crime and a 60 to 80 percent decline in gun fire.
The ShotSpotter technology has been around for about a dozen years, but only took off within law enforcement over the past five years.
The FBI in 2004 used the system in Columbus, Ohio, to track down a roving sniper who was terrorizing motorists on Interstate 270. The system led investigators right to the spot where the sniper had fired a shot. There, investigators found physical evidence which resulted in the arrest and conviction of a man.
The system is not a cure-all for urban violence, but it does help, according to Pontious. "It's just a tool," he said. "Without good police work, it's not going to be as effective."
Since 2004, ShotSpotter has been installed in 31 cities, including Washington, D.C., Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Rochester, N.Y., and Gary, Ind.
In New England, Boston installed it a year ago, and New Haven, Conn., is supposed to go on line in the next month, Pontious said. Another 10 cities are in varying stages of planning and installation, he said.
Gary, Ind., police used ShotSpotter to crack down on celebratory gunfire on New Year's Eve 2006. Forty-five illegal guns were confiscated in one night.
Washington, D.C. police in September, 2007, were able to exonerate a police officer in the death of a 14-year-old suspect. The system was able to distinguish between the officer's 9mm and the suspect's .45 caliber handguns and determine the suspect opened fire first.
ShotSpotter works through a process the company calls "acoustic triangulation." As many as 15 to 20 sensors per square mile are spread out on rooftops and calibrated to detect loud noises like gunshots, motorcycles, firecrackers, or even engine backfiring.
"They listen for anything that goes bang, really," Pontious said.
When a sensor detects a loud noise, it keys in on the general direction from which the sound comes and relays it to a computer in the police station. The computer is able to take all the data from various sensors and combine it to get an exact position for where the gun was fired, Pontious said. It can also determine if the sound is a gunshot, firecracker or an engine backfiring, he said.
Since ShotSpotter has been online in Springfield, the number of gunshots police have responded to has actually increased by 60 percent, Prairie said. There have not been any more gun activity as much as police are now learning about more of them.
Gun shots have become so common in some neighborhoods that many residents never bother calling police to report them, he said. "We seldom get calls for shots fired," he said, adding that "people have become immune to gunshots" in some urban areas.
In fact, when the department was testing the sensors after installation, technicians fired off a total of 90 rounds in different locations, according to Prairie. "We got four phone calls," he said.
Residents need not worry that the sensor system poses a means for government to eavesdrop on their lives. The sensors are calibrated to detect gunshots and other loud noises but are not so sensitive that they can pick up conversations at street level, he said.
Sometimes after a gunshot, they will pick up screaming or the squeal of a fleeing vehicle but "we can't hear conversational voices from where we are," he said.
"We're not 'Big Brother' looking to listen to private conversations."
-----
This will do nothing to deter crime.
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
), so that kid couldn't possibly have had a gun. 
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
![[rolleyes]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/042.gif "Roll Eyes [rolleyes]")
[sad2]
