ShotSpotter technology may be too pricey for SPD

SEATTLE — The Seattle Police Department said Thursday it isn’t sure if a gunfire-detection technology used to pinpoint the location of gunshots is worth its cost.

The department is looking for tools to fight gun violence in a year that, while only halfway over, has already outpaced the previous year’s homicide rate.

“We’ve had four murders in a two-block radius at Rainier and Henderson, and as best I can tell, no positive, proactive changes happened,” said Wendy Alsup of Seattle during a hearing with city officials.

That's one reason police and the city are considering testing an automated gunfire detection system. The systems use microphones placed in neighborhoods to determine the location of gunfire and alert police in seconds. The technology can even distinguish between gunshots and fireworks.

“It will allow us to identify locations where we’re getting gunfire that’s unreported, and that will help,” Assistant Chief Paul McDonagh said.

Seattle City Councilman Bruce Harrell, chair of the public safety committee, said he’d like to see police test a system in a pilot project.

"We need to spend a lot of money in prevention, I certainly suppor that," he said. "We also need to invest in making sure that we can apprehend people when there’s this illegal gunfire going on."

But ShotSpotter, one of the technologies available, costs about $60,000 per square mile.

With budgets tight, police commanders are wondering whether the technology is the best use of scarce dollars.

“It’s a fact that in about half the homicides we’ve seen this year, we would not identify them as a high-risk area into which we would put a ShotSpotter system,” Deputy Chief Clark Kimmerer said.

KIRO