ShoSpotter, a gunshot detection system designed to help police respond to shootings faster, will go online next month in Huntington Station and North Bellport.
A high-tech computer system that alerts police to the scene of shootings seconds after the bullets start flying is expected to go live before Thanksgiving in violence-prone Huntington Station and North Bellport, according to a lawmakers and police.
Suffolk County lawmakers approved legislation in March to bring the ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection System to five communities plagued by gun crimes, although there is still no time table for when the system will be rolled out in the other three areas. Nassau County police have been using the same system in high-crime areas for two years.
“With ShotSpotter, we’ll not only be able to dispatch police more quickly and precisely, but going forward it will allow the county to use its precious crime-fighting resources more cost effectively as well,” Majority Leader Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), who pushed for the technology, said in a statement.
Shootings in the two-square-mile neighborhood of Huntington Station early last year had prompted police and politicians to pour resources into the area and the local school district to close a nearby elementary school. ShotSpotter will be online by Nov. 16, Cooper said.
Suffolk County police confirmed reports that ShotSpotter will debut in North Bellport around the same time but only said the installation “will follow” in Wyandanch, North Amityville and Brentwood.
It was scheduled to be fully operational by July 1, but has been slowed while ShotSpotter works with local utilities over the placement of microphones in strategic locations, a Suffolk police chief said at a recent public meeting.
The microphones are linked with GPS technology to triangulate the location and direction of the gunfire within feet and alerts officers directly in their patrol cars, bypassing the 911 system, which is key since sometime shootings are never reported to police.
Nassau police have credited the system with allowing faster response times, more evidence and giving shooting victims a better chance of survival.
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