Vallejo advisory board recommends city pursue Flock Raven gunshot‑detection system

The Vallejo Surveillance Advisory Board voted to recommend that the City Council consider using Flock Raven, a gunshot‑audio detection system, after a presentation by police staff about a beta test of the technology.

The board’s recommendation followed a presentation by Captain Bautista, who described Raven as “gunshot audio detection technology” and said the department ran training in June and September, began beta testing on Sept. 6 and implemented Raven with dispatch on Sept. 11. “My recommendation would be to move forward with the technology of, Flock Raven,” Bautista said.

Board members discussed the system’s operational benefits and limits. The department reported 1,003 Raven alerts from Sept. 6 through July 31 and 342 separate shots‑fired incidents during the same period. Combined, the department recorded 1,345 shooting alerts and incidents and said 99 investigative cases were generated from those data points — 26 traced to Raven alerts and 73 to caller‑reported shots. Police said 37 incidents had both a Raven alert and a 911 shots‑fired call; in 21 of those incidents officers located a scene within five…