City of Montgomery Targets Gun Violence With Technology ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System
Montgomery, Alabama to Deploy Technology
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ShotSpotter, Inc., the leading developer of mission-essential acoustic surveillance systems for law enforcement, homeland security and military, announced today that the City of Montgomery will use the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System(R) (GLS) to track and target gun crime. Montgomery is the second city in Alabama to use the ShotSpotter GLS system.
A press conference will be held by the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery Police Department at the Emergency Communications Center, 911 Communications Pkwy, on Thursday, June 25, at 1:30pm, to discuss deployment of the ShotSpotter GLS in Montgomery.
The ShotSpotter GLS is used to detect, locate, and track gunfire. It will protect a one mile area within the city. A combination of federal grants, City Council Capital Improvement allocations and asset forfeiture money provided funds for the system.
"The ShotSpotter GLS will be an important tool for the City of Montgomery. By giving us additional intelligence on gun violence within our city, we will be able to further reduce gun crime and enhance current intelligence-led policing efforts," said Jeff Downes, Deputy Mayor.
Mayor Strange said, "Technology like the ShotSpotter GLS helps us provide cutting edge crime fighting tools. This system will play a valuable role in our efforts to reduce gun crime in our city. The end result will be improved safety for our officers responding to gunshots and for our citizens to be safe in their homes and neighborhoods. We have a vision for our City to be safe, vibrant and growing. This is a key component of that vision and a key program as a part of our newly established West Montgomery Initiative."
Today, the ShotSpotter GLS is used in 44 cities and counties around the U.S. The system detects, classifies, locates, and alerts first responders to gunfire and other explosive events in near real-time. Each event is logged into a historical database for strategic and tactical crime analysis that reveals crime trends, patterns, and hot spots within a coverage area. Event data has successfully corroborated and refuted eye witness testimony, established a timeline of events, and been used in crime scene reconstruction. When implemented, customers using the ShotSpotter GLS report a reduction in violent crime rates by at least 40 percent and gunfire rate reductions by as much as 60 to 80 percent.
"Technology is being used increasingly by law enforcement to drive intelligence-led anti-crime efforts," said Gregg Rowland, senior vice president of ShotSpotter, Inc. "The ShotSpotter GLS will give the Montgomery Police Department previously unavailable gun crime data, enabling officers to use this data to better analyze, monitor and respond to gun-crime trends and build more targeted crime prevention strategies."
Today marks the official implementation of the ShotSpotter GLS tool in Montgomery. Sixteen sensors have been placed in an undisclosed target area located in West Montgomery and starting today will begin providing information to the Montgomery Police Department. Montgomery Police Chief A.D. Baylor said, "We, at the Montgomery Police Department, are committed to eradicating crime in our City. We have always embraced the newest and best crime fighting tools available in law enforcement. Today marks just another chapter in that commitment. We are excited about fully utilizing this new technology."
About ShotSpotter, Inc.
ShotSpotter, Inc. is the leading developer of mission-essential acoustic surveillance systems. Its flagship product, the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System(R) (GLS), has pioneered the use of wide-area acoustic surveillance coupled with audio analytics for public safety, homeland security, and military applications. For over a decade, our customers have relied on the ShotSpotter GLS to provide them with acoustic event awareness and accurate actionable intelligence to aid their development of proactive anti-crime strategies and operations. Currently the ShotSpotter GLS protects many cities and counties nationwide, consistently producing arrests and weapons confiscations. Information about ShotSpotter can be found at www.shotspotter.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://www.shotspotter.com/news/index.html.
(C)2009 ShotSpotter, Inc. All rights reserved. U.S. Patent Nos. 5,504,717; 5,703,835; 5,973,998; 6,847,587; 6,965,541; 7,139,222; 7,266,045; 7,411,865; 7,420,878; 7,474,589; 7,532,542 and other foreign and domestic patents pending. ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System(R) is a registered trademark of, and the ShotSpotter logo is a trademark of ShotSpotter, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Source: ShotSpotter, Inc.
Released June 24, 2009