The ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection System and Hot Spots Analyses

The Smart Policing Initiative seeks to build upon the concepts of offender-based and place-based policing and broaden the knowledge of effective policing strategies. The most convincing research demonstrates that place-based or hotspot policing reduces violent crime and neighborhood disorder. This initiative addresses the need for effective policing that requires a tightly focused, collaborative approach that is measurable, based on sound, detailed analysis and includes policies and procedures for accountability. This grant program seeks to build upon data-driven, evidence-based policing by encouraging state and local law enforcement agencies to develop effective, economical, and innovative responses to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime within their jurisdictions.

The city of East Palo Alto will use ShotSpotter technology to address the high levels of shooting incidents within the city. The goal of this proposed project is to use place-based technology as a key tool for investigation, problem solving, and crime prevention efforts. The ShotSpotter system provides the police department with a more comprehensive understanding of the volume and nature of shootings, such as the number of rounds fired, the precise location of the incident, and the time and duration of the incident. The ShotSpotter data will be used to identify two to four shooting hot spots within the city and based on these analyses, the city of East Palo Alto will design and implement specific problem-oriented policing (POP) strategies and tactics to be deployed in those areas. The East Palo Alto Police Department is the lead applicant for this project and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Warren Institute) will serve as the research partner. CA/NCF