Four people were shot at the Sparks Marina Sunday.
The Sparks Police Department says its ShotSpotter technology helped them identify that shots were fired.
With Sunday’s shooting, they had both alerts from the ShotSpotter, and multiple 911 calls.
However, more often than not, SPD says gun shots are not reported.
For one year, SPD has used the ShotSpotter to help them identify where gunshots are occurring.
There are more than 160 cities that have adopted this.
“I think it’s helped our officers respond to things more accurately and quicker,” said Lieutenant John Patton, Detective with SPD.
How the tech works is there are several hundred acoustic sensors placed around a four-square-mile area.
The Sparks Police Department does not know where exactly the sensors are installed.
The company SoundThinking went around the community and found spots where they thought they fit best.
Then, they asked community members if it would be okay if they were installed there.
When shots are fired, the sensor captures the time and audio of the sound.
Humans then verify if the sound is indeed a gunshot, and if so, they notify officers and dispatch.
SoundThinking says this process takes less than 60 seconds.
It’ll tell officers and dispatchers how many shots they believed were fired, and the approximate location.
The location is pretty precise and can pinpoint from about 30 yards to only a few feet.
SPD says this new technology has proved to be helpful for quicker and more efficient responses.
“Well, I think for us it’s really just situational awareness, having the officers know that something is going on in a specific area,” Lieutenant Patton said. “Instead of, in the past we’re just waiting on someone to call us.”
Last year from June to December, there were 187 alerts from the ShotSpotter.
There were 37 cases and five arrests made. They recovered 132 casings and six firearms.
The Sparks Police Department only received 911 calls 10 percent of the time, out of 187 ShotSpotter alerts.
Lieutenant Patton says this is usually due to the fact that people may not know if it’s fireworks or actual gun fire and don’t want to bother the police.
This is the first of three years of the pilot program for the ShotSpotter.
They say they’re still learning how to best utilize it, but they’re happy with the results so far.