Durham City Council votes 4-2 against 3 year Shot Spotter contract

[jimmyjames8]

Durham city leaders to consider ShotSpotter contract

On Monday, the Durham City Council voted on whether to bring back ShotSpotter technology.

www.wral.com

Da Mayor and mayor pro tem voted for the contract. Their stock just went up in my book. The city is a basket case of crime and only the mayor and vice mayor have their heads out of their collective butts. You get the govt you deserve.

 

[GymB]

Earlier reporting indicated very few arrests or interactions based on the system.

 

[jimmyjames8]

"Data from the Durham Police Department (DPD) said for the one-year pilot period, there were 1,416 ShotSpotter alerts – and a total of 5,259 shots detected, not including New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Independence Day.
There was an average of 3.9 alerts per day and 3.7 shots per alert. 26.9% of the ShotSpotter alerts also had a resident 911 call.
"We knew that we needed to get on scene quickly," said Durham Police Chief Patrice Andrews. "We knew that we needed to collect as much evidence and locate and collect as much evidence as possible, but we also respected council's decision. But that did not have an affect on how we did our work."
So far, DPD’s response to these ShotSpotter alerts has resulted in 24 arrests.
Andrews advocated in favor of the technology. She said it's significant that nearly 80% of the shooting reports to police were initiated by ShotSpotter."

 

[Teodoro]

Glad they voted against it. Need to spend the money on something that will actually combat crime, not an expensive boondoggle from California.

For example, our 911 center is way under staffed and sometimes struggles to answer emergency calls promptly. And last I checked, the police are working overtime and need to add more officers that city council didn't want to fund.

 

[Button Pusher]

How many suspects were actually prosecuted and how many gun charges dropped? Glad they said No Deal.

 

[Jerzsubbie]

That’s a 1.7% arrest rate per alert. Now what were the charges for those arrests, and how many resulted in convictions?

Seems like a waste of money.

Edit:
$650k for 24 arrests. Sounds like something 1-2 officers could do for a fraction of the cost, assuming their current officers are at 100% capacity.

Yes, a waste of money.

 

[Chuckman]

Durham city leaders to consider ShotSpotter contract

On Monday, the Durham City Council voted on whether to bring back ShotSpotter technology.

www.wral.com

Da Mayor and mayor pro tem voted for the contract. Their stock just went up in my book. The city is a basket case of crime and only the mayor and vice mayor have their heads out of their collective butts. You get the govt you deserve.

Crime rate stats are a bit all over the place. Violent crime, for which this was supposed to curb, is actually pretty low (compared to cities of comparable size). The areas that are higher than city average (and some comparison areas) are located in the same neighborhoods, the same 14 (+/-) square blocks, as it has been since the mid-90s. Non-violent crime, however, is higher, across the city at large.

My issues with this technology: is is reactive and not proactive, I don't think LE gets to a scene to collect evidence much fast than someone calling 911, the arrest rate from the tech is extraordinarily low. I do not think keeping it is of any benefit.

 

[Teodoro]

My issues with this technology: is is reactive and not proactive, I don't think LE gets to a scene to collect evidence much fast than someone calling 911 ...

I call in shootings to 911 in Durham regularly. I do it because I think it's the good citizen thing to do, but I'm not sure it ever does any good.
Why? Because a really common form of shooting in Durham is some idiot holding a pistol out the window, firing some shots in the air, and peeling off in their car.
If an officer gets there 2 minutes later, which would be pretty fast, what good does that do?