In a few New Jersey’s cities, where the crime rate is high, cops are using ultra-sensitive shot-detection technology to decrease the response time and keep the civilians protected. There are sensors present in the device which help in identifying and locating the sound.
The company which manufactured the device said in July that 7 cities of New Jersey are using the ShotSpotter technology. Atlantic City, East Orange, Plainfield and Trenton are included in the cities where the technology is used by the police departments.
The cops get alerted within seconds after the gunshots are fired. They also get details, including how many shots are fired and at which location.
The technology has helped a lot in decreasing the response time, according to Camden County Police Capt. Greg Carlin. The system diagnoses the sound as gunshot within 12 seconds and the cops are alerted, and assistance is sent to the incident spot immediately.
Carlin further said that there was a requirement of ShotSpotter due to the reason that the people living in Camden had become somewhat “numb” and “desensitized” to gunfire near their homes. In many cases, the individuals didn’t inform the police about the incident that happened in the past, so the cops get alerted now which eliminates the need of reporting the case. He added, “It’s helped us with our investigations, putting pieces of the puzzle together, recreating crime scenes and the like”.
According to Capt. Derek Glenn, more than $1 million was given as a grant for the tool back in 2009 and the updating of the technology has improved the reliability on the detail received by the tool. The sensitivity level of the tool has increased. Glenn added, “Say we have an instance where there are 12 shots fired, or even five shots fired, oftentimes we can tell that it’s two distinct weapons that are being fired, rather than one.”
Source: www.nj1015.com
