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Police and council back smaller ShotSpotter deployment; city to spend about $213,855 for renewal
Summary
Council discussed and sponsors introduced an agreement to renew ShotSpotter service over two smaller locations; police said the system has helped locate shootings and recover guns since inception.
Council members introduced legislation to appropriate $213,855 from the general fund and contract with SoundThinking Inc. for a ShotSpotter renewal centered in two downtown districts.
Officer Thiemann of the Toledo Police Department described the technology and results to the council. Thiemann said ShotSpotter detects gunfire events that do not produce 911 calls and that, since the city implemented the system, officers have recovered 399 guns tied to ShotSpotter alerts. “ShotSpotter is roughly 90% accurate when a shooting comes in,” Thiemann said. The officer noted the system can be affected by fireworks around the Fourth of July but said many alerts are within 80 feet of the incident and sometimes as close as 20 feet. The department said the vendor reports a reduced time to get victims to hospital and that alerts are often forwarded to dispatch in less than a minute.
Council sponsors said the renewal would reduce coverage from three areas to two smaller locations focused in districts represented by Councilwoman Williams and Council member Gattis. Councilwoman Morris, a sponsor, said the program is a valuable tool for summer safety and asked an officer to brief the council.
The legislation was introduced at agenda review; council did not take a final vote on contract award during the session. Sponsors asked for the renewal to proceed and presented the program’s performance metrics during the discussion.
