ShotSpotter, a microphone-based application can locate gunfire origination and relay the information to police. It is being used in other departments across the country with seemingly good results. According to this article from the Indy Star Public Safety Director Scott Newman says he would like to have some in place by the end of this year.
At $500,000 for the first and $250,000 for every system thereafter, a dozen cameras are placed in a mile radius to pinpoint gunshot locations. These shots can be immediately sent to dispatch or even to cruisers. Because people sometimes fail to report shots fired, the police believe this shortened reaction time will increase the arrest rates.
One thing that caught my attention in the article was the notion that the systems were being used in place of officers due to budget constraints. While the economy is bad and budgets are stretched thin, I hardly think microphones that detect gunfire will even come close to the effectiveness of added police officers on the force.
In Saginaw Michigan the police department is using already slim federal grant money to purchase the expensive ShotSpotters when their police force has been nearly cut in half in the past decade. Technology is a wonderful thing but this particular technology cannot substitute for the work of dozens of officers on the street.
Regardless of how they are caught, though it is not likely by Big Brother, criminal defendants will need an experienced attorney, particularly if they are facing weapons charges or charges of a violent crime in Indiana.