gunfire sensors credited with swife arrest in CA shooting

[M-Quigley]

http://www.whio.com/news/national/gunfi ... CNVrLy9YJ/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fresno — Acoustic sensors mounted on lampposts and telephone poles picked up the crack of gunfire and rapidly enabled police to zero in on where it was coming from. Within minutes, the alleged gunman in the deadly rampage was under arrest.
-Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer credited the technology Wednesday with the swift capture of Kori Ali Muhammad, a 39-year-old black man who authorities say killed three people Tuesday in a bid to wipe out as many whites as possible.
-"He was in custody within 4 minutes and 13 seconds," Dyer said Wednesday at a news conference where he played audio clips of the ShotSpotter technology. "Kori Muhammad would be outstanding today if it wasn't for shots-fired detection."
-The system can tell police the location and time the shots were fired, how many there were, and sometimes the type of weapon, the number of shooters and whether they changed location as they fired.
-The information can be sent to officers on the street via their smartphones and their squad-car computer screens, as was the case in Fresno.
-Fresno police said officers were alerted to the gunfire by ShotSpotter even before they received any word from the dispatchers who take 911 calls, and the system pinpointed the shooter's location to within a matter of feet.
-Muhammad had tossed aside his empty gun moments before the officer pulled up, according to police. The suspect then threw himself on the ground and surrendered.
Fresno Officer Nicholas El-Helou said it is rare for police relying on traditional dispatch calls to arrive while a gunman is still on the scene.
-The speedy arrest in this case may have averted another tragedy, he said.
"He could carjack somebody. What's to say he doesn't force his way into a home and take hostages?" El-Helou said. "We don't know what could have happened. He was a desperate man."
-A one-year contract with ShotSpotter costs $55,000 to $95,000 for each square mile. Because of the cost, cities often limit the technology to high-crime areas.

Privacy advocates criticize it for also sometimes recording speech, though the manufacturer says it is designed to ignore such noise.
-Still, prosecutors used a recording of the last words of Tyrone Lyles to help convict the gunman who killed him in Oakland in 2007. Lyles called out Arliton Johnson's nickname as he lay dying.

How would using recorded audio in a public place be more of a violation of privacy than cameras? (from a legal stand point I mean)

[WestonDon]

Hmm, I had always considered these things to be feel good but ineffective gadgets. Guess I'll have to reconsider. Expensive though.

[HancockCountyHAl]

Poor suckers in California are sitting ducks.

[Javelin Man]

Remember, according to the anti's, these sensors will be ineffective if normal people can purchase suppressors because criminals will have easy access to them and the sensors won't be able to hear gunshots.

[Brian D.]

Article read as though shooter fired shots and stayed there afterwards. You don't need fancy high tech to catch such a moron.

[Bruenor]

after spending that much money on a system like that you HAVE to give it credit any time you can to justify the expense. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.

[Mr. Glock]

Remember, according to the anti's, these sensors will be ineffective if normal people can purchase suppressors because criminals will have easy access to them and the sensors won't be able to hear gunshots.

The company itself says that is not true, the system still hears suppressed shots.