It’s difficult to establish what location a gunshot came from even if people do call 911 about hearing gunshots. I think a “Gunshot Location Detection System” would be very helpful in Coatesville for sending first responders to a location where a gunshot was fired and also aid in investigations. It can be used to instantly turn surveillance cameras to the shots location. It can be used with geographic information systems to bring up police reports in the shots fired area.
This is part of a Wikipedia post about “Gunshot Location Detection System”
“Public safety
In public safety and law enforcement, gunshot location systems are often used in high crime areas for rapid awareness into the communications and dispatch center where the alerts are used to direct first responders to the scene of the gunfire, thus increasing arrests rates and improving officer safety, as well as in the long run deterring gun crimes, shootings and especially "celebratory gunfire" (the practice of shooting weapons in the air for fun). Gunshot location systems based upon wide-area acoustic surveillance coupled with persistent incident data storage transcends dispatch-only uses because reporting of urban gunfire (via calls to 9-1-1) can be as low as 20%, which means that law enforcement agencies and their crime analysts have incomplete data regarding true activity levels and patterns. With a wide-area acoustic surveillance based approach combined with a persistent repository of gunfire activity (i.e., a database), agencies have closer to 100% activity data that can be analyzed for patterns and trends to drive directed patrols and intelligence-led policing. Additional benefits include aiding investigators to find more forensic evidence to solve crimes and provide to prosecutors to strengthen court cases resulting in a higher conviction rate. With the accuracy of a gunshot location system and the ability to geo-reference to a specific street address, versus a dearth of information that typically is the case when citizens report gunfire incidents to 9-1-1, agencies can also infer shooters by comparing with known criminal locations, including those on parole and probation; investigators can also at times infer intended victims and hence predict and prevent reprisals.
Gunshot location systems have been used domestically in urban areas since the mid 1990’s by a growing list of cities and municipalities that are embracing gunshot location systems as a mission-essential tool in their arsenal for fighting violent crime. Federal and homeland security agencies too have embraced gunshot location systems and their benefits; notably the FBI successfully used a ShotSpotter GLS during the 2003-2004 Ohio highway sniper attacks, in conjunction with the Franklin County Sheriff.”
With just some brief research is appears as though ShotSpotter is the preferred technology for most police departments.
ShotSpotter also has information concerning funding sources for police departments.
BROCK PARKER - The York Dispatch
Article Last Updated: 09/11/2008 10:50:36 AM
Article Last Updated: 09/11/2008 10:50:36 AM
Signal Scape - Official Blog of the AFCEA
By Henry Kenyon
February 25, 2010
By Henry Kenyon
February 25, 2010
BULLSHIT. Places like Coatesville do not need technology to police. The cops need to walk the beat the old fashion way, and build relationships with the community so residents have a sense of security in their hood and those creating problems know they are gonna have to move on with what ever they are doing. Peace.
ReplyDeleteThe Legree/Walker/Matthews “team” whittled the Coatesville Police Department down to one officer on patrol for the entire city at any given time and eliminated the investigative ability of the police force. When Matthews took over the Narcotics Department was dissolved and Lt. Gordon, who Chester County DA Joe Carroll said was an essential part of narcotics investigation, was put on administrative leave. I think the arsons were a direct result of the lack of policing created by the Legree/Walker/Matthews “team”.
ReplyDeleteThe Coatesville Police Department is up and running again and does interact with the community again.
A newcomer to Coatesville may have extended family in another part of the country. But the many of the families in Coatesville go back one hundred years and their extended families are well known and live nearby. My family history in Coatesville goes back more than one hundred years. Most of my considerable extended family lives in Chester County. A witness who grew up in Coatesville and has extended family in Coatesville has to contend with the ability of the bad guys to threaten their extended families. If the dealers back in Coatesville know when I ask questions at the courthouse in West Chester while I am still at the courthouse what is it like for a witness or a jury member?
The population of the City of Coatesville is about 12,000. It was once 20,000. Revitalization of the city could bump the population back up to 20,000 with newcomers. The influx of new people without family connections within Coatesville that revitalizing Coatesville could bring will put new “eyes” on the street that are not as easily threatened. But until revitalization happens, a combination of gunshot location detectors and video cameras that turn to the gunshot location might be helpful.
The consequences of “snitching” are very high in Coatesville. A gunshot location detector and video recording will not respond to the threats contained in Harvey "Bitsy" Legree’s don’t snitch video "The Sequel".