Innovation of the week: New NYPD technology pinpoints gunshot locations

(Image credit: (Courtesy Photo))

published 27 March 2015

In New York City, a shot in the dark just got a whole lot easier to track, said Maud Rozee at Gothamist. The Police Department unveiled its new ShotSpotter detection system last week, a state-of-the-art network of 300 sensors deployed over 15 square miles that can "triangulate the location of gunshots to within 25 meters." Police officials estimate that up to 75 percent of shots fired in the city don't result in 911 calls, "a phenomenal underreporting of incidents of violence," said police commissioner Bill Bratton. The new system will be linked to closed-circuit TV cameras, "license plate readers, radiation sensors, and 911 calls" to give police more real-time information on locations where shots were fired. "It's going to send a message to our communities," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "If you fire a weapon, the police are going to know immediately."