Board hears debate on ShotSpotter contract, police drones and public-safety tech

The board held an extended discussion about public-safety technology, including possible expansion of the ShotSpotter gunshot-detection system, a police drone pilot program funded by a public-safety grant, and how dispatch prioritizes ShotSpotter alerts.

Lieutenant (name provided in record as the police presenter) told the board the vendor had proposed a multi-year arrangement that would expand coverage and that the company quoted a cost of about $200,000 per year if the city adds an additional service area around the John Barrow addition; the proposal would include four square miles with one square mile provided at no charge and the city paying for three square miles. The lieutenant said adding the additional area would require a separate ordinance and separate vote because the existing vote that had been expunged only permits the prior coverage.

Several directors questioned whether ShotSpotter materially improved response times. The lieutenant and other police staff said ShotSpotter incidents are reviewed by the vendor's center and the system sends confirmed gunfire alerts; the police dispatcher assigns priorities and the department currently treats ShotSpotter-confirmed events as higher priority than citizen-reported shots (the meeting record described citizen-called shots as a priority-4, while ShotSpotter alerts are triaged at a higher priority level). The lieutenant acknowledged that some false positives (nail guns, fireworks, can pops) are filtered at the vendor review stage and are not always dispatched as confirmed gunfire.

Separately, the Little Rock Police Department described a drone pilot program funded by a public-safety grant that would place six drones and six certified pilots in a single patrol division (the Twelfth Street Division) to test whether saturation deployment improves response, crime-scene management and situational awareness. The department currently operates two drones; the grant would buy six additional drones and related connectivity equipment (MiFi) so feeds could be streamed to the real-time crime center or emergency operations center. The department said the pilot will evaluate whether the program should expand to other divisions.

Directors asked operational and civil-liberties questions: whether drones and ShotSpotter would be used citywide, whether footage would stream to the crime center (staff said yes with appropriate tech), and how calls from ShotSpotter are prioritized and filtered. Vice Mayor Weyrich and Director Lewis raised concerns about response times for citizen-reported shots versus ShotSpotter alerts and urged clearer data on whether the technology improves police outcomes.

Police staff said ShotSpotter remained active while the board considered the item and that the vendor delayed deactivation pending the board's final decision; the department said ongoing dispatching to reported ShotSpotter locations continued.