Gun Fee Utopia Of Birmingham England Installs "ShotSpotter" System.

[Zappa]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100612/tuk-sniper-sensors-to-detect-gun-crime-6323e80.html

Sniper sensors to detect gun crime

The ShotSpotter, which uses audio sensors to pinpoint a gunman's location to within ten meters, can "hear" shots from two miles away.

It is used by the military to find snipers in Afghanistan and Iraq and is now going to be deployed in Birmingham, The Times has reported.

Sensors, which recognize sound waves, will be placed around the north-west of the city where gun crime is at its most prevalent.

Once a shot has been fired, the sensors will send an instant message to armed officers who can be on the scene within minutes.

The Safer Birmingham Partnership, which includes West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council, believes the technology will be crucial as shootings often go unreported.

Inspector Kevin Borg, project leader with the partnership, told The Times: "We may not get 999 calls every time a gun is fired, as members of the public are sometimes scared and may not want to report gunfire in case of reprisals.

"But we now don't have to wait for a member of the public to dial 999; we'll know when a gun is fired."

The sensors can also tell whether a gun has been fired from a moving car, its direction and how many firearms have been used.

ShotSpotter is used across America, with some areas reporting a 32% reduction in gun crime.

Why would they waste money on a system like this?
Guns have been practically non-existent since the UK banned them years ago..

[/sarcasm]

 

[kiver]

I think Springfield has one

ETA: Yup

http://www.shotspotter.com/news/articles/2008/November/111008_Springfield.html

 

[whatluck]

How does this protect England's subjects, you know, when it can only detect shots AFTER the weapon was discharged.

Someone was shot. Better go check it out.

 

[terraformer]

ShotSpotter is used across America, with some areas reporting a 32% reduction in gun crime.

Bull shit.

 

[xtry51]

Makes me wanna open up an outdoor shooting range near one just to screw with the system...

And it seems quite dubious to me that it would not create lots of false calls. That coupled with the fact that it's lead to ZERO arrests in Springfield per that article pretty much sums up its uselessness.

I'm guessing if it actually worked we would be hearing some stories about it over the past two years. I Google'd Springfield ShotSpotter and got nothing under a news search and only what appear to be articles written the company itself about how great it is on a general web search. None of the stories give any numbers on crimes solved or criminals arrested. One article did say officers found one criminal in response to an alert. ONE.

I did however find this wonderful quote from Sgt. John Delaney, executive aide to Springfield's police commissioner, regarding the $1,000,000 price tag (+$90,000/year in maintenance): "If you get one gun off the street, that's worth a million dollars right there." Quote from ShotSpotter website. Yeah, let's just throw lots of money at a problem. Who cares how much it costs!

If he's got a few million laying around I've got a few old guns I'm not overly fond of I'm willing to part with for his money....


EDIT: FYI that $1M price tag covers a gigantic 3.5 square miles (of the 32 total square miles of the city...)

 

[sleeplessknight]

Shucks, I've got an old beat up Para that I'd be willing to part with for $1M. Hell, if he REALLY twists my arm, I'll go down to $750k. BUT NO MORE! Sgt. Delaney, call me!

 

[Blitz1]

Weren't they trying something like this in Boston a while back?

 

[Zappa]

Weren't they trying something like this in Boston a while back?

Boston has had the system in place for a few years already.

Brockton and New Bedford have it too.
Here's the most recent thread about it:

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vb...-receive-950-000-for-gunshot-detection-system

 

[Blitz1]

Boston has had the system in place for a few years already.

Brockton and New Bedford have it too.
Here's the most recent thread about it:

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vb...-receive-950-000-for-gunshot-detection-system

How is that working out for them?

 

[mass]

............I did however find this wonderful quote from Sgt. John Delaney, executive aide to Springfield's police commissioner, regarding the $1,000,000 price tag (+$90,000/year in maintenance): "If you get one gun off the street, that's worth a million dollars right there." Quote from ShotSpotter website........

It cost $45,917.05 per year to house in inmate in MA. So, for $1,834.10 a year more than the mainenance fee, you could keep two shooters of the streets.

I'm also curious to know how the system "protects". Does the same criminal who doesn't care about gun laws or any laws for that matter decide not to commit a crime because someone might hear him?

My head is goimg to explode one of these days.

 

[TomH]

A million dollars just to get get to the scene of the cleanup sooner.

 

[jdubois]

ShotSpotter is used across America, with some areas reporting a 32% reduction in gun crime.

Bull shit.

It's not BS at all... I have no doubt some areas are reporting that!

But we now don't have to wait for a member of the public to dial 999

Didn't they change the emergency number in the UK to 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3?

 

[exo]

Holy crap. I only read about this kind of thing in The Black Arrow (good book!). I didn't know it was real. Ugh, idiotic and if deployed en masse would only serve to shackle us even more.