Surveillance board approves continued Flock Raven use while demanding police performance data

The Vallejo Surveillance Advisory Board voted 4–2 on July 21 to recommend that the police department proceed toward procuring the Flock Raven gunshot-detection system while the board receives additional evaluative data and holds a special meeting in August to review the department’s metrics.

The vote followed a lengthy presentation by Captain Batista of the Vallejo Police Department and sustained questioning from board members about how the department plans to measure the system’s effectiveness beyond anecdotal cases. Captain Batista described four cases where Raven alerts helped officers locate victims or suspects and said the department views Raven as a “reactive” tool that supplements existing tactics. “Raven will give you an approximate, very good location to where [a shooting] actually occurred,” Captain Batista told the board.

Board members pressed for quantifiable performance metrics. Board Member Stewart asked for comparisons between a baseline period before the beta test and the year of Raven testing, including response times, arrests stemming from Raven alerts and the number of Raven alerts that resulted in no corroborating evidence. Board Member Russell Owen emphasized the need for security documentation and measurement plans; several members expressed concern that Raven coverage…