Nassau cops credit gunshot detection system

Since being turned on a month ago in two of Nassau County’s most dangerous communities, gunshot detection sensors in Uniondale and Roosevelt have tipped off cops to the precise locations of at least four gun crimes – alerts that police brass say sped up medical care for the wounded and hastened the arrests of the shooters, the county executive announced Tuesday.

The sonic sensors, part of a nearly $850,000 microphone-and-computer system called ShotSpotter, alerts 911 dispatchers about noises a computer program thinks are gunfire.

The computer pinpoints gunfire locations within about 82 feet and provides information such as whether the shooter was moving or standing still.

Dozens of the sensor microphones have been installed discreetly in what police call “the gun corridor” because of how many weapons crimes they investigate there, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi said.

At a news conference, Suozzi and Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey gave details of cases for which they credited ShotSpotter with helping offi-cers get to the scene quicker.

In July, a man shot at a party was taken to a hospital quicker because the ShotSpotter alerted officers before the first 911 calls came in, officials said. The man survived the shooting. And four suspects were arrested earlier this week in connection with an illegal handgun after the system detected gunfire in their area.

ShotSpotter sales literature states that communities using its system report a drop in violent crime of at least 30 percent and gunfire rates reduced by as much as 60 percent to 80 percent.

Mulvey said he hopes word of the gunshot sensors will deter gun crimes by generating expectations that officers will respond to a crime scene quicker.

Right now, most of what trips the sensors is ambient noises in the community – sounds of construction, helicopters and fireworks, said William G. Flanagan, a second deputy commissioner in charge of the gunshot sensor program.

When the sensors were activated on July 23, Flanagan’s team began what will be about six months of calibrations to help filter out false alarms. Eventually, most of the alerts to 911 dispatchers will be from actual gunfire, Flanagan said.

Mountain View, Calif.-based ShotSpotter Inc., told county officials that after the calibration period, about 85 percent of the system alerts will be for gunshots, county authorities said.

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