Company in the newsShotSpotter, Inc. says its technology saves lives

Published 9 September 2009

The Mountain View, California-based company says that in the first half of 2009 its technology saved the lives of 57 gunshot victims; this represents a 138 percent increase from the first half of 2008

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” In Romeo and Juliet, the Bard tells us that names are not important, and this one short line — in which Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention — captures the central struggle and tragedy of the play.

At times, though, names — especially names of commercial entities — are important. Here is an example. We reported yesterday about Cambridge, Massachusetts-based BBN Technologies being awarded a $22,460,000 contract by the U.S. Army Product Manager Robotics and Unmanned Sensors (PM RUS) to deliver its Boomerang Shooter Detection Systems and vehicle installation kits. We described BBN’s Boomerang as a “shot-spotter system” because it pinpoints the location of the enemy shooter.

The use of the term “shot spotter,” although literally correct, may have caused some confusion because there is a company by that name — Mountain View, California-based ShotSpotter, Inc. The company develops acoustic surveillance systems, and its flagship product, the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System (GLS), is using wide-area acoustic surveillance coupled with audio analytics for public safety, homeland security, and military applications.

We have written several stories about ShotSpotter, Inc. (see, for example, 25 June 2007 and 7 May 2009 HSNW). Here are a few recent piece of news about ShotSpotter, Inc.:

  • In late July the company announced that 57 gunshot victims have survived life-threatening wounds this year thanks to the timely aid of first responders relying on accurate incident location data provided by ShotSpotter’s GLS technology. ShotSpotter’s data on the number of lives saved in the first half of 2009 represents a 138 percent increase from the first half 2008, when 24 victims were aided. The data is based on information from the 45 cities and counties across the United States employing ShotSpotter’s GLS technology over a six month period. In some cases, ShotSpotter’s GLS data is the only life-saving information first responders receive, and without it, many of these victims would not have survived.
  • In June the company said that in the recent quarter alone, the ShotSpotter GLS has been procured by the cities of Richmond, Calif., Montgomery, Ala., Trenton, N.J., as well as two Westchester County, N.Y., cities, Mount Vernon and Yonkers. Based on the current success rates and continued market interest, the company expects the number of locations using the system to double in the next 12 months.
  • The City of Montgomery, Alabama, will use the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System (GLS) to track and target gun crime. Montgomery is the second city in Alabama to use the ShotSpotter GLS 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.
  • In March, the company said that acoustic and geolocation evidence gathered from the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System (GLS) was used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. This evidence assisted in the successful first degree murder conviction of two known gang members  The ShotSpotter GLS provided acoustic and georeferenced evidence that corroborated the events as detailed by the sole witness to the murder. This evidence revealed 18 rounds had been fired by two different caliber weapons. Additionally, this data showed a shot by shot chronology that identified the precise location of each and every round fired and established a timeline of shots fired which identified which shooter had fired which round. The full case study is available for download at: http://www.shotspotter.com/customers/case_study_LACSD.html. “This case study perfectly illustrates how all levels of law enforcement can derive value from the ShotSpotter GLS,” said James G. Beldock, president and chief executive officer of ShotSpotter, Inc.