ShotSpotter is operational: St. Louis adopts gunshot detection system
Cameras, laptops, Police Chief Mokwa and the perforating crack of a 9mm heralded the first fully operational day of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system which is now live in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood.
The St. Louis Police Department hosted a live-fire demonstration of the ShotSpotter system today in Barrett Park, at the corner of Goodfellow and St. Louis Avenue. The system is able to triangulate the position of gunfire within fifteen feet, map the location via GPS, and immediately inform police dispatch of the number of shots and location of the gunfire. This information can be relayed to police officers in the field equipped with laptops and the SpotShotter software. Police dispatch will also receive a recording of the sound for furthew review and/or possible use in legal proceedings.
According to ShotSpotter midwest regional director Lynn Barousse, the system (In the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood) uses 20 acoustic sensors placed high above the ground, can tell the difference between backfires, firecrackers, and gunshots, and is not affected by inclement whether. The system even has an interesting Fourth of July application--Barousse noted that "gunshots show up as red dots on the screen, and firecrackers show up as yellow dots."
Barousse said the system cannot decipher what caliber of weapon was fired, but to a limited extent, that can be determined "by listening to the recorded gunfire."
Installation of the system was made possible due to a 250,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department, according to Ericka S. Van Ross, director of public information for the St. Louis Police Department.
Barousse mentioned that roughly, the system costs $200,000 per sqaure mile. Police Chief Mokwa said the system will "inform the police well before citizens call anything in," adding that "more information will only help the officers." Mokwa also stated that the program will undergo a 90 day assessment in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood before it is potentially brought to any other part of the city.
