Newark-Based ShotSpotter Helps Detect Celebratory Fourth of July Gunfire

A Newark-based company will help police departments across the country detect celebratory gunfire this Fourth of July. 

ShotSpotter, in use in 75 cities throughout the U.S., is a gunshot detection system that uses acoustic sensors to pinpoint where and when a gunshot is fired.

Tech news website Computerworld reports that several cities, including Oakland and San Francisco, will be using the technology this Independence Day to curb the illegal and unnecessary discharge.

"We're going out, putting teams together and using ShotSpotter to direct us in the right location and trying to arrest these people who are putting people's lives in danger," Captain Ersie Joyner of the Oakland Police Department told Computerworld.

Computerworld breaks down how the system works:

Often within seconds of a gun being fired, an alert flashes on the screens of ShotSpotter's monitoring center in Newark, California. There, a human operator listens to the sound to determine if it was indeed gunfire and looks at other data supplied. Seconds later, the operator alerts the subscribing police department with details including the location and, if the shot was fired from a moving vehicle, the speed and direction in which the vehicle was traveling.

Though the sensors are designed to only hear the sound of weapons, fireworks can be mistaken for gunshots. But digital filters will help human operators distinguish gunshots from other sounds, according to Computerworld.

ShotSpotter’s technology was used to help convict a Union City gang member in 2011 who critically wounded an undercover Fremont police officer during an investigation in Oakland. Audio captured by ShotSpotter revealed that 10 shots were fired and that the officer warned the suspect, Andrew Barrientos, that he was a police officer. That, paired with additional evidence, led to a life sentence for attempted murder on a police officer and nine other felonies.