Dallas police gunshot detection project hits snag
6:00 AM Mon, Oct 19, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Tanya Eiserer/Reporter Bio | E-mail | News tips
Plans to test a high-tech crime fighting tool in Dallas have hit an electrifying snag.
This spring, Dallas officials signed a $25,000 agreement with ShotSpotter, the leading maker of gunshot detection systems, to conduct a 90-day pilot project.
ShotSpotter sensors were slated to be installed on electrical poles in a one square mile area in North Oak Cliff neighborhood. If the pilot went well, Dallas city officials were looking to install the system in portions of the city.
But the project has hit an impasse over Oncor's requirement that ShotSpotter sign a "pole attachment agreement" before Oncor will allow any equipment to be installed on its poles. Shotspotter officials believe the contract would open them up to too much liability and have so far refused to sign it.
Gregg Rowland, senior vice president of sales and marketing, said this is the first time the company has encountered this problem.
"All of the other cities we're in, the utilities were willing to partner with us in the fight against crime," Rowland said.
Jeamy Molina, an Oncor company spokeswoman, described the contract as standard procedure, and a way to protect Oncor company property.
"This is something we do throughout our service area," Molina said. "It's not out of the ordinary. If something happens to the pole, they would be responsible."
Every year, Dallas averages about 16,000 random gunfire incidents. Some city council members have been enthusiastic about the idea of gunshot detection systems.
So far, ShotSpotter is in more than 45 cities and counties, including San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans.
The system picks up the sonic waves emitted by gunshots, triangulating the location of the gunfire and notifying 911 operators to send police.
"We actually hear it, locate it, and establish that it was gunfire," Rowland said. "Within five seconds, we give the exact location of the gunfire and how many rounds were fired. We give them the knowledge of what they're facing."
He says the systems have been credited with saving more than 55 lives this year, and more than 500 over the last five years.
"We put the officers on scene quick enough so they would call for aid," Rowland said.
The system, which costs about $250,000 per square mile, has also been credited with reducing violent crime, random gunfire, helping police make arrests and helping with prosecution.
ShotSpotter officials had never before agreed to even conduct a pilot project, but they agreed to do so because they've had a hard time breaking into the Texas market due to a prior Dallas experience.
In 1996, a different gunshot detection system was installed in Oak Cliff for two months as part of a pilot study. Dallas officials were not impressed with it at all.
"It was a complete disaster," Rowland said. "Everybody in Texas is skeptical about this system. We don't have these kinds of challenges in other states. We know its' going to work well for them, and they're going be impressed with the technology. We really want to get the system installed."
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Topic: Dallas police gunshot detection project hits snag (Read 3548 times)