( Avondale ) - Cincinnati Police on Monday announced a new tool for officers to use against violent crime.
ShotSpotter is a system of audio sensors being installed across three square miles of Avondale. The sensors detect the sound of gunshots and can triangulate where the shots are coming from within a 25 meter radius.
Police Colonel Paul Neudigate says once the gunfire is detected, the system will notify dispatchers as well as patrol officers "withing 30-45 seconds of detecting that gunfire." Neudigate says the system will also map the gunfire, so investigators can keep track of habitual problem areas.
"It's not all about arrests," Neudigate says, "because, unfortunately, with our shooting activity, we still have a lot of uncooperative victims and witnesses that will be shot and they just won't cooperate with the police. So, it's about solving crimes that occur. It's about identifying locations that we can be proactive in reducing the gunfire before we have a body hit the ground."
Neudigate says the system will be running in Avondale by the end of August, and he says he has other neighborhoods he'd like to see this technology deployed into.