The Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI are using Global Positioning Systems technology to pinpoint the location of a gunshot to help save lives and fight crime. D.C. police said the “Shot Spotter” system wasn’t always as reliable as they’d hoped, but the technology was a valuable tool to reduce gun violence.
A network of sensors uses GPS satellites to triangulate the spot of a shot and then automatically notifies police.
The makers say the shot spotters can pinpoint within 5 feet of where a gun was fired, can determine the caliber of the gun and knows the difference between the pop of a handgun and the crack of a jackhammer.
In Charleston, S.C., the system helped solve a case by determining that 12 shots were fired from two gunmen moving in a vehicle traveling 9 mph, according to the company that developed the technology.
The FBI used similar technology to track the highway sniper in Maryland and Virginia several years ago, and in 2005 it started a pilot program to plant the sensors in D.C.’s high-crime areas.
Joseph Persichini Jr., FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, said the device may have recently saved a shooting victim from bleeding to death.
Persichini said officers were alerted to a shooting in Southeast Washington and reached the victim five minutes before residents called in the incident.
But police officers say the system works about half the time and, despite what the manufacturers claim, the shot spotter confuses fireworks with gunshots. And even when gunshots are accurately detected, the sensors can’t tell the whole story, officers said.
During the early morning hours this summer, police were alerted by dispatchers that the system had detected gunshots along Atlantic Avenue in Southeast Washington. But officers couldn’t find any evidence of a shooting.
When the sun came up, police found a body at a closed elementary school about three blocks from where the shot spotter pinpointed the gunfire, according to one police officer.
It’s possible the victim staggered the three blocks before dying. And at the very least, police know the precise time of the shooting, an officer said.
