Dec 12, 2007 11:37 am US/Central
ShotSpotter Catches 15-Year-Old With Rifle
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Minneapolis Police use ShotSpotter, which uses sensors placed in sections of North Minneapolis and South Minneapolis to detect when a gunshot is fired.
CBS
A 15-year-old Minneapolis boy is in juvenile detention, after being arrested with a stolen rifle. He was discovered after the ShotSpotter system detected a shot fired near N. Broadway and Sheridan Avenue in Minneapolis.
ShotSpotter uses sensors placed in a section of North Minneapolis and South Minneapolis to detect when a gunshot is fired.
"When the police searched three young men who were walking down the street, one of them was carrying a sawed off .308 rifle," said Lt. Greg Reinhardt of the Minneapolis Police Department. "It's a very high-powered rifle."
The 15-year-old was walking with two other teenage boys at 8:30 Monday night. No one was hit by the gunshot, but, according to Reinhardt, the rifle was stolen.
No one in the neighborhood called police for help. ShotSpotter triangulated the location within eight seconds of the gunshot, and officers were dispatched within one minute, according to Reinhardt.
"There are some areas of the city where no one calls, because gunfire is commonplace," he added.
Reinhardt said this latest arrest is indicative of the success the city has had with ShotSpotter. Since the system's installation in late December 2006, Reinhardt said that 12 people have been arrested and 12 guns have been confiscated.
Minneapolis Police won't disclose the exact locations covered by the ShotSpotter system, nor will they disclose what the sensors look like.
However, they have been tracking crime in the covered area. Reinhardt said crime is dropping quicker around ShotSpotter than it is in other areas of the city.
According to Reinhardt, homicide is down 23 percent in the ShotSpotter areas compared to 21 percent citywide. Robbery is down 20 percent, compared to 17 percent in the city and aggravated assault is down 10 percent in the ShotSpotter areas and 9 percent in the city.
"Now ShotSpotter didn't cause all those decreases, but it was a tool that was used in conjunction with the cops on the street. So we believe it's been very successful," said Reinhardt. "The bottom line is, if you shoot a gun in Minneapolis, we're gonna to catch you."
Suzanne Ballard lives near Monday night's shooting and she runs an in-home daycare, supervising a household of children. She said she supports ShotSpotter.
"I think that's great," said Ballard. "I really do. I think it's great. To get people off the streets and guns off the streets so its more safe for all the kids out here."
The ShotSpotter system is able to locate a shot by about 10 feet. Every shot that the system locates has to be heard by three different sensors that then triangulates the location.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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