Police say ShotSpotter alerts reduce response time; directors ask for comparative data

The board heard a presentation from Sergeant Beaulieu of the Little Rock Police Department about the city’s ShotSpotter gunshot‑detection system and its role in investigations.

Beaulieu described the system’s coverage area in the city and said ShotSpotter alerts typically come to dispatch within about 60 seconds. Using vendor data from about November 2023 through October 2024, Beaulieu said ShotSpotter produced roughly 1,100 alerts in the covered area; comparing those alerts to CAD (computer-aided dispatch) records, he said community members called police within three minutes in only 12 of the alerts and within 15 minutes in about 172 instances. He described a recent incident where the alert helped investigators identify where the first round was fired and another where an alert arrived before community calls, enabling faster prioritization of response.

Beaulieu said last year the system recorded fewer than 10 false positives and that 16 incidents were later identified by detectives that the system did not capture; he called the false‑positive rate “statistically small” compared with total alerts. Directors asked whether ShotSpotter demonstrably leads to arrests or convictions; Beaulieu said the technology is one piece of investigations and that investigators now have new tools to annotate alerts with shell casing finds, victim locations and other evidence to produce more useful outcome data. Directors asked staff to research why some other cities have not renewed ShotSpotter contracts and to provide comparative information about costs and outcomes; Beaulieu agreed to pursue additional data and to explore whether expansion to other neighborhoods is feasible, noting the system must be calibrated by area and expansion would require additional contract costs.

Ending: Police will follow up with comparative research on other cities' non‑renewals, improved outcome tracking that ties alerts to investigative evidence, and feasibility/cost information for potential targeted expansion.