On Sunday, four people were shot at the Sparks Marina. The Sparks Police Department quickly identified the location of the incident using its ShotSpotter technology. In addition to the alerts from the ShotSpotter, the department also received multiple 911 calls. While gunshots are often not reported, the use of ShotSpotter has helped the department identify where gunshots are occurring for the past year. Over 160 cities have adopted this technology.
Lieutenant John Patton, Detective with SPD, believes that ShotSpotter has helped officers respond to incidents more accurately and quickly. The technology works by using several hundred acoustic sensors placed around a four-square-mile area. The exact placement of the sensors is unknown to the Sparks Police Department as they were installed by SoundThinking after consulting with the community.
When a shot is fired, the sensor captures the time and audio of the sound. Humans then verify if the sound is indeed a gunshot, and if so, notify officers and dispatch. SoundThinking claims that this verification process takes less than 60 seconds. The technology can provide officers and dispatchers with details on the number of shots fired and the precise location of
