NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans City Council is now expected to discuss the possibility of redeploying ShotSpotter technology in certain crime hotspots in the city.
The system is a network of audio sensors that can detect loud sounds like gunfire and identify the location where the shots were fired.
“Any type of technology that helps supplement the shortage we have in manpower and labor with the New Orleans Police Department is a remedy and solution for the people in this community, right now," City Councilman Oliver Thomas said.
According to the independent Metropolitan Crime Commission, there have been 73 non-fatal shootings and 45 homicides so far this year.
In a 24-hour period this past Saturday and Sunday, there were 6 shootings in the city that left two people dead and 6 others injured.
Councilman Thomas chairs the council’s Criminal Justice Committee.
He says investing in ShotSpotter as another tool tied into the city’s real-time crime center makes sense.
“Whether it’s shootings on the interstate, shootings downtown, shootings during Mardi Gras, shootings on the Pontchartrain Expressway, there’s shootings every night,” Thomas said. “I heard gunshots last night. I don’t know how close they were but it would have been nice for someone to identify where they were coming from.”
New Orleans had a ShotSpotter program 10 years ago.
It was discontinued after police were unable to demonstrate the technology had an impact on crime.
“Bottom line the ShotSpotter, research to support it or not support it seems to me to still be a mixed bag,” Loyola University Criminal Justice professor and former NOPD Supt. Ronal Serpas said.
A recent study by the University of Michigan concluded that the system’s accuracy, effectiveness, and cost are serious concerns.
The study said, “…the funds cities allocate to ShotSpotter would be better spent on community investments that are proven to reduce crime, such as after-school programs, drug treatment programs, and poverty alleviation.”
“You still have to have resources available to respond immediately and do some sort of scene investigation, particularly with ShotSpotter if you’re going to use it,” Serpas said.
Thomas says the technology has evolved and improved since 2013 and it’s time for the city to take another look at the program.
“Any tool can get more guns off the street, more bullets and ammo out of the air and save more lives is something we need to be considering.”
Councilman Thomas told WWL-TV, ShotSpotter will likely come up during a discussion at the next criminal justice committee meeting in March.
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