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October 26, 2012 By News Staff
Gunfire detection technology is going to get another shot in Chicago, CBS reported.
Already being used in dozens of cities around the country, “ShotSpotter” technology will be installed in three-square-mile locations in the Englewood, Chicago Lawn, Harrison and Grand Crossing police districts.
Gun shot detection was tested in Chicago in 2003 and again in 2007, but in both instances the technology was found to be ineffective and too expensive. “You know, that’s a century in the technological world. They’ve improved it dramatically,” said Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. “It’s very, very accurate. My understanding is it triangulates it to sometimes down to a foot, or three feet.”
The $200,000 upgrade, which was covered by “forfeited assets,” has already been used successfully in several cases, McCarthy said. “In these incidents, ShotSpotter successfully identified shots fired events, and effectively directed our officers before receiving 911 calls for service from the public,” he said.
While about 70 cities around the country have adopted ShotSpotter technology, some cities are still hesitant. In July, Seattle was considering the technology after a rapid increase in gun-related violence, but nothing so far has materialized.
Officials of Hempstead in Long Island, N.Y., also recently announced they would install ShotSpotter technology as their neighbors in Roosevelt and Uniondale did. Those neighborhoods both saw a decrease in violence since installation, according to the Long Island Report.
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"Give county gun proposals a careful look,” editorial, Chicago Sun-Times, 10/28/12. The county gun proposals were made by Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey, the commissioner who agreed to speak at a Javier Sicilia’s Caravan for Peace press conference held in the foyer of the Cook County Building on September 4th, 2012, calling for an end to the war on drugs to stop the Chicago violence, but then failed to show up while in the building at press conference time. As for Fritchey’s gun proposals, yawn. As for changing the name of CeaseFire to “Cure Violence,” yawn. As for the recent $200,000 City of Chicago expenditure for sound-triangulation devices to differentiate between gunshots, backfires, firecrackers, and farts on two 1.5-square miles of drug-prohibition turf, a yawning hiccup. As for the new Chicago anti-violence initiative C.A.R.E. that rhymes with D.A.R.E., yawn. As for the Chicago Sun-Times calling for an “honest debate on drug laws,” editorial, September 16, 2012, after failing to provide a stitch of news coverage of the Caravan for Peace the same week and ignoring the Caravan Chicago presence of the 20-year head of narcotics for the Los Angeles police department, Deputy Chief Stephen Downing of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, double yawn. Honest debate on drug laws? When, where, who, how? Why not? As for the Chicago Sun-Times no-endorsement policy that prevents it from endorsing the election day referendum calling for the legalization of all illicit drugs and an end to the war on drugs to stop the violence (there is no such referendum), good newspapers “pride [themselves] in offering a smart editorial page that is deeply engaged in vital civic issues…. But our goal is…to inform and influence your thinking, not tell you what to do.” (Chicago Sun-Times, editorial, 1/23/12)