Salinas committee hears evidence on ShotSpotter ahead of November council approval

The Salinas Police Advisory Committee heard a presentation Oct. 22 from Commander James Ehrensorff of the Salinas Police Department explaining how the city—s ShotSpotter acoustic gunfire detection system works, what it has detected since 2016 and why staff will ask the City Council next month to approve annual agreements for the service and related technology.

Ehrensorff said ShotSpotter uses a network of acoustic sensors and an analyst review to produce alerts officers can receive on their phones within roughly 15 to 20 seconds. "Prior to having ShotSpotter, our department was totally reliant, as many departments are, on 911 calls," Ehrensorff said, describing the difficulty of locating gunfire based only on callers— reports.

The commander gave the committee performance data for a roughly two-year period (2023 through early 2025): 549 ShotSpotter alerts in that span; 8.4% of alerts had a corresponding 911 call within 15 minutes and one mile, and 5.5% had a call within three minutes and 300 feet. Ehrensorff said that pattern indicates many incidents would likely have been missed without acoustic detection and that the faster alerts help officers render aid, secure scenes and capture evidence.

Ehrensorff described ShotSpotter—s reported precision (typically within 100 feet), "situational awareness" tags that can suggest fully automatic fire, high-capacity magazines, drive-by patterns or multiple shooters, and how collected shell casings can be entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) for forensic linkage. He gave recent examples where alerts led to victim contact, recovery of casings and arrests.

Committee members and residents asked about false alerts and officers visiting private property. One committee member recounted officers arriving at a home after an alert and asked why they had come to the resident—s door; Ehrensorff replied the system provides a pinpointed circumference but is not perfect and that the department prefers to respond to potential false positives rather than miss shootings.

On coverage, Ehrensorff said the system currently covers about seven square miles of the city—s roughly 24 square miles, concentrating on neighborhoods with higher incidence of shootings. He said expansion is desirable but constrained by cost. Staff told the committee the city will place annual agreements for ShotSpotter and a related vendor (referred to in the meeting as "Axon Infusis") on the City Council agenda in mid-November for consideration.

Public commenters and committee members praised outreach efforts by the department and urged continued community engagement alongside technology use. Jose Guerra, a neighborhood resident, thanked the department for attending local meetings and said the outreach was well received.

The presentation and discussion did not produce a committee vote on the ShotSpotter contract; staff said the contract and associated fees will be brought to the City Council for formal action in November.