Roll Out of Gunfire Detection Tool ShotSpotter Expected Soon

According to a local police official, software designed to pinpoint and notify police of the location of gunfire could be up and running later this month.

In early October, the City Council approved a $640,000, three-year contract for ShotSpotter technology that uses microphones and sensors in certain neighborhoods to determine the location of gunshots.

After the system determines shots have been fired it alerts police in a matter of seconds.

Chief’s Adjudant Lt. Bill Grisafe told Pasadena Now the contract was signed on Tuesday.

“They are working on permits for installation. Our target to go live in the last week of January/first week in February,” Grisafe said.

When asked Wednesday morning when the system would be up and running incoming Interim Police Chief Cheryl Moody said it should be soon.

In October police said the system, which alerts police about the location of a gunshot in less than a minute, could save lives and possibly deter shootings.

The Pasadena Police Department has responded to more than 300 calls for service from people reporting hearing shots being fired, and an additional 400 incidents of gun-related crimes over the past two years.

During the same period, nearly 40 members of the Pasadena community have been either killed or injured as a result of gun violence. Close to 700 firearms have been seized by police officials.

Residents opposing the technology said it did not work or address issues that lead to crime.

Critics also point to research which said ShotSpotter produced low arrest numbers and privacy issues.

Despite those concerns in other cities, some communities recently extended their ShotSpotter contract.

The Denver City Council on Monday approved a $4.7 million, five-year contract extension with ShotSpotter.

In Houston, the City Council voted to approve a five-year $3.5 million contract with ShotSpotter to continue using the program in south Houston, with plans and expand to an undisclosed second location this year.

The software has reportedly led to some success in recovering weapons.

Deputies seized more than a dozen firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and arrested a man after they received a ShotSpotter alert on New Year’s Eve in Broward County, Florida. Responding officers arrived at a home where they heard a barrage of gunfire and took cover. After everyone was ordered out of the home, police obtained a federal search warrant and discovered 13 firearms, including two short barrel rifles, along with the ammo, officials said. The owner of the weapons was arrested.

Other critics said the software allows more racial profiling by police because the sensors are placed in Black and brown communities.

“We can expect the acquisition of this technology to harm, rather than help, the most vulnerable populations in this city who have been overpoliced, over surveilled, and undervalued in recent years,” the group said in a letter to the City Council signed by several community groups.

“The department’s report to this [council] says that it intends to deploy ShotSpotter sensors in areas its own analysis show are ‘most impacted by gun-related crimes.’ Roughly translated, the department intends to use this technology to further increase its presence and footprint in Black and brown communities in Pasadena, including in our City’s Northwest. The inevitable result will be further frisks, contacts, detentions, seizures, and arrests —none of which are likely to deter violence, and all of which are likely to make residents feel less safe and less welcome in their communities.”

ShotSpotter denied those claims on its website.

“This false narrative is not based in reality and ignores the pain many communities are suffering from,” the company stated. “We work with our customers – local law enforcement agencies and cities – to determine coverage areas based on historical gunfire and homicide data to assess the areas most in need of gunshot detection. We believe all residents who live in communities experiencing persistent gunfire deserve rapid police response, which gunshot detection enables – regardless of race or geographic location.”