Police in Springfield Massachusetts are expanding the use of gunshot detection technology.
The area of Springfield now covered by the gun shot detection system has been roughly doubled. The expansion was paid for by $120,000 in private donations collected by the New North Citizens Council as part of the civic organization’s safe neighborhood initiative. Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet said the technology can put police on a crime scene in time to make an arrest and seize a gun
Police say data analysis reveals that most of the gun shots detected by the technology, an average of 2000 a year since 2008, were not reported by a call to 911. When police were called, it was typically five minutes or more after the shots were fired.