Shot Spotter shows its potential as a crime-fighting tool

The City's three-month pilot project has shown that the Shot Spotter system would be hugely beneficial to the fight against crime, but it needs an all-in approach. Read more below:

The City of Cape Town is running a gunfire detection technology pilot project in Hanover Park using the Shot Spotter technology. The objectives of the pilot include verifying the system's ability to reliably and accurately detect and locate gunfire; gathering gunfire data in terms of the number of incidents, shots fired, hotspot locations, etc.; and exposing various law enforcement agencies to the technology.

The pilot started on 17 August 2014 and the initial phase concluded on 15 November 2014. During this period, 344 incidents were recorded, with a total of 1 106 shots fired. Some of the other data gathered indicated that:

There were seven days where no shots were fired in the area

On 21 of the days, only a single gunshot was recorded

Most incidents occurred on Wednesdays

Friday was the day of the week with the fewest shots fired

The highest number of shots fired in a single incident was 25

There were distinct hotspots on certain street corners and fields, where the majority of the incidents were concentrated

Most of the incidents recorded happened between 20:00 and 05:00, with incidents peaking between 23:00 and 03:00.

‘As a result of the pilot, Metro Police are now responding to every gunshot as opposed to one in five or one in eight, which was the usual response rate for police in general before. This has had the effect of suppressing the amount of gunfire and has allowed us to confiscate illegal firearms, arrest suspects with outstanding warrants, find illegal drugs, and gather useful crime intelligence.

It is also improving our relationship with the community and increasing the level of trust, as they are now seeing a response after every shooting incident and this will translate into better crime intelligence,' said the City's Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

The pilot project has seen a reduction in the number of shooting incidents since the launch, as a result of Metro Police's ability to respond more accurately. During this period, officers have also made more than 50 arrests in Hanover Park for drug possession, outstanding warrants for murder and attempted murder, as well as possession of illegal firearms and ammunition. They confiscated eight firearms and a homemade firearm.

In addition, the data gathered from the pilot project will assist law enforcement agencies in building a more strategic and tactical response capability based on actual gunfire data (not reported gunfire data) and, where applicable, to adapt their mode of operation accordingly in the future.

‘It is important to temper public expectation - the three-month pilot project was never meant to be a magic wand that would make all available resources fall into place and the problem would be solved. Instead, Shot Spotter is an enabler to a much bigger strategy in combating gun and gang violence.

However, in order to make the technology work for us, we need a partnership with the South African Police Service so that we can grow our pool of resources to be able to fully exploit the intelligence that the system provides. ShotSpotter yields invaluable evidence that detectives can use in their investigations into attempted murders and murders,' added Alderman Smith.

The City of Cape Town will continue engaging the South African Police Service on the use of Shot Spotter, which we are able to share with them at no cost to SAPS, as their participation will be crucial in determining whether the City should acquire the system on a more permanent basis and expand the roll-out.

To date, the City has been able to test the system during the pilot project with only some nominal installation costs. Deciding whether the technology is a worthwhile investment to install permanently in Hanover Park and expand to other suburbs besieged with gang violence and gunfire is a decision we will soon make and the guidance from SAPS in this regard would be of critical importance.

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Statement issued by Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, City of Cape Town, November 26 2014

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