East Orange skips ahead of Plainfield with gun sensors

One system, ShotSpotter, is able to determine a vehicle's
location, direction, speed and number of shots fired.

East Orange has gotten a jump on Plainfield.

This time it's about gunfire in the neighborhoods. A story in this morning's Courier notes the reduction in gunfire and drug activity in the neighborhoods after police put up 93 sensors and 18 cameras covering about half the city (in area, East Orange is about two-thirds the size of Plainfield).

According to an article in WIRED magazine, getting gunshots reported has been a continuing problem police departments face--

Many shots fired in urban areas go unreported. When sheriff's officers in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles County tested the system, they fired boxfuls of blanks and live rounds in nine separate areas. Hardly anyone noticed. The patrolmen shake their heads when they tell the story, repeating the key details: nine locations — more than 100 rounds discharged — and only a single phone call. They reckon that citizens are either distrustful of the police, fearful of retaliation, or simply inured to the frank pop pop pop of gunfire.

Even if someone does report hearing gunfire, the chance of identifying the location and catching the perpetrator is remote. Echoing off walls and masked by other noises, the sound's origin can be difficult to place.

That's where ShotSpotter comes in. "In the past, the best information the police could hope for was a neighbor calling to say, ‘Sorry to bother you, but there may have been a shooting somewhere in my neighborhood,'" says ShotSpotter CEO James Beldock. "Our system can immediately tell them that, say, 11 rounds were fired from a car going 9 miles an hour, northbound, in front of a specific address on Main Street. In some situations, ShotSpotter could get someone on the scene within a minute. That's a level of situational knowledge police have never had."

Having the sensors seems to be much better than relying on human reports of gun activity.

A sample ShotSpotter map.

Plainfield's efforts to get cameras have sputtered for years, not to mention thoughts of installing gunshot sensors. Though talk in Plainfield has veered off over guesstimated costs, East Orange seems to have found it reasonable enough -- $150,000, including discounts for making itself available as a 'demonstration community'.

Though things have quieted down somewhat in Plainfield since the 'Clinton Avenue Posse' was corraled last April, we are hardly out of the woods. Plainfield block associations and neighborhood watches might urge officials to take a look-see at the East Orange operation -- and accompany them on a visit.

Sample ShotSpotter compter details screen.

East Orange's program also involves a Virtual Community Patrol, giving residents in some rough neighborhoods access to a special website showing webcam views of the neighborhood and giving them an opportunity to report crime in real time via their computers.

All that would be well and good with a working website.

There I go again.

---

Courier - 7/23/2007: "High-tech sensors, cameras help East Orange go silent"
WIRED Magazine: "Shot Spotter"
Company website: "ShotSpotter.com" and a short video.

-- Dan Damon

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