Erie police set to deploy controversial shot-detection system chief says could save lives

A gunshot detection system that has drawn criticism from some quarters is about to be deployed in a section of Erie.

Despite the criticism, the city's police chief said he welcomes any new technology, which in this case is fully funded by a state grant, that will assist his department in potentially saving lives.

The Erie Bureau of Police is finalizing details concerning the installation of ShotSpotter gunshot technology equipment that will soon be deployed in an area of Erie covering roughly 6 square miles. Police are not identifying the area, but said it was selected based on data collected over the past two to three years that showed areas of the city with the highest number of shots-fired reports.

Employing the technology from the California-based company, which recently changed its corporate name to SoundThinking, will cost a little under $1 million over two years, Police Chief Dan Spizarny said. The cost is fully covered by a grant through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, he said.

Officials announced in late 2022 that Erie, along with Erie County and Millcreek Township, were receiving more than $3 million in funding through the PCCD's Gun Violence Investigation & Prosecution Grant Program to use to combat gun violence. Spizarny said at the time that the more than $1 million Erie was receiving through the grant would be used to purchase a gunshot detection system. The funds will also allow assigned detectives to follow up on all reported shootings and help cover the cost of new evidence collection equipment for the bureau's Identification Unit.

More: Grants to help Erie County, municipal law enforcement combat gun violence with new tools

How ShotSpotter works

ShotSpotter uses acoustic sensors positioned around the target area to detect and locate gunshots using triangulation. The sensors are connected wirelessly to ShotSpotter's centralized, cloud-based application. That data is used to locate the incident and is then filtered by sophisticated machine algorithms to classify the event as a potential gunshot, according to information on the company's website.

Acoustic experts staffed in ShotSpotter's incident review center confirm that the events are gunfire, and can further determine other critical intelligence such as whether a fully automatic weapon was fired or whether there were multiple shooters, according to the website. An alert is then sent to the 911 center and/or to a patrol officer.

Spizarny said the company's response to a detected gunshot is less than one minute, generally in less than 30 seconds. The company's system can tell whether or not a noise is indeed a gunshot or something that could mimic the sound, such as fireworks.

There are two codes ShotSpotter will send police, Spizarny said. One code states that the sound is 100% believed to be gunfire, and the other is that the sound is 80% believed to be gunfire.

"It's maybe not at 100%. They don't want to send us on a wild goose chase, but this one is close to gunfire," Spizarny said of the 80% report.

In order for the gunshot to be detected, Spizarny said it must occur within the targeted zone, and it needs to be outdoors because a shot would most likely not be detected if it is in a building or a house. The weapon must also be a .25-caliber or higher.

Erie police will be notified of gunfire in the targeted area by Erie County 911 once dispatch receives an alert from ShotSpotter. There is also a web-based program that officers can connect to through their cellphones that will send an alert to them at the same time the 911 center receives an alert, Spizarny said.

"An officer can respond immediately," he said. "(An officer) may also find that he's in the middle of something he doesn't want to be in or is not ready for, and it helps him know his backup is being notified at the same moment."

Why Erie is getting it

Gun violence, particularly shootings and reported shots-fired calls, have increased in the city over the past several years. Police investigated 242 shots-fired calls in 2022, a year in which 67 people were shot and five people were killed by gunfire.

Spizarny said he believes using ShotSpotter will speed up his department's response to shooting incidents and enable police to come to the aid of shooting victims quicker at a time when seconds count.

"It may save a life if we can get to a gunshot victim soon enough," he said. "With the medical equipment we carry now in the police cars, basically we're carrying some of the medical equipment that a medic would carry in the military. Our guys are all trained on this, so we're there to try to save that person's life."

Erie police have been told every city that has installed a ShotSpotter system has seen its number of shots-fired calls go up, because the system is detecting incidents that citizens aren't calling in to report, Spizarny said. The system can detect a better location of where a shooting occurred, giving police a more precise location to respond to, he said.

"Right now we get calls from people saying they heard gunfire they think was down the block. An officer can drive up and down the block and not see anything. Now this is going to tell us it was in the alleyway behind the house, or around the corner," he said.

Spizarny stressed that police still strongly encourage members of the community to continue calling in shots-fired incidents when they hear them. The city police bureau does not want to become solely reliant on the ShotSpotter system, he said.

"If people hear things and note things and call 911 and get the police there, it may save a life," Spizarny said.

Questions and criticism

ShotSpotter technology has been challenged in some parts of the country for, among other things, failing to detect some shootings and misclassifying sounds as gunfire, according to stories that include a March 5, 2022, Associated Press report.

On its website, the company states gunshot detection by itself is not a panacea for gun violence, but if used as part of a comprehensive gun crime response strategy can contribute to a reduction in response times, help save the lives of gunshot victims and improve evidence collection rates.

"All I say is that, to me, it's a lifesaving tool. A victim is going to get help quicker, and if people don't like that I don't understand why they don't," Spizarny said.

He said he and Deputy Chief William Marucci traveled to Pittsburgh to the city police department's crime center, where they saw how ShotSpotter operated and heard that department's success stories. Officials they talked to in Pittsburgh said it is great technology that Erie police should explore, Spizarny said.

Spizarny said he also learned during a ShotSpotter training session about a retired Oakland, California, police officer who was shot 11 times during a shootout with three men who tried to rob him. No one called 911 to report the shooting, and several bystanders stood filming the wounded man with their cellphones instead of helping the victim, he said. But police arrived on the scene within minutes of the shooting because they were alerted by ShotSpotter, and their quick response saved the retired officer's life, according to Spizarny.

"There have been other stories in the media where, if it hadn't been for ShotSpotter, the police would never have been sent to a location. When they get there, they find a victim who is hanging onto life. If we can get them medical help that much quicker, we are going to save a life, and what's that worth?" the chief said.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie police to install ShotSpotter, a controversial gunshot-detection system