Sensors report gunfire directly to police in 70 U.S. cities, no 911 call needed

Cameron Scott singularityhub.com As Americans use digital methods for more of their interpersonal communications, law enforcement agencies have seized the opportunity to scoop up more information for cheaper than they could before, hoping to ferret out criminal activity. But violent crime still takes place in the physical world, with fragile human bodies on the line. A growing number of U.S. police departments are using a system of sound-detecting software to locate and respond to gunfire in hopes of catching more shooters and saving more victims. ShotSpotter, the dominant gunfire detection technology on the market, gathers data from a network of acoustic sensors placed at 30-foot elevation under a mile apart. To cut costs, most cities use the sensors only in selected areas. The system filters the data through an algorithm that isolates the sound of gunfire. If shots are fired anywhere in the coverage area, the software triangulates their location to within about 10 feet and reports the activity to the police dispatcher. The system is generally more accurate and more reliable than would-be 911 callers, in part because in the worst neighborhoods, residents don’t even bother to report gunshots. Roughly 70 U.S. cities currently use ShotSpotter, which is made by the Newark, Calif., company SST. More police departments began subscribing to ShotSpotter after the company launched in 2011 a cloud-hosting platform that made the system more affordable for small and mid-size cities. to read more click here: singularityhub.com