There have been 400 shooting incidents in Durham this year. Could this free offer help?
Durham police officers could begin tracking down gunshots across the city, using a nearly $200,00 system, for free.
A Durham City Council member announced Thursday that ShotSpotter is offering Durham a free, six-month trial of its gunshot-detection system.
Council member Mark-Anthony Middleton has lobbied for the technology for the past year in response to rising gun violence in Durham.
“On behalf of mothers that have buried children and for the mothers that come up to me constantly and asked ‘what are we going to do about gunfire?’ I think we should take that deal,” Middleton told fellow council members at their meeting Thursday.
The ShotSpotter system places sensors across a city to pick up sounds that may be gunshots. The program analyzes the sound, comparing it to other gunfire sounds within a database, and sends the analysis to law enforcement officers, according to the company website.
Police departments across North Carolina use ShotSpotter, including Goldsboro, Wilmington and Greenville. It’s also used by police departments in New York City, Chicago and Washington D.C.
The Durham Police Department reported 418 shootings as of June 27, up from 315 over the same time period last year.
Last month Durham city leaders attended a vigil for Tyvien McLean, 12, who died after a bullet flew through an apartment window at the Cornwallis Road public housing complex. Two other children and seven adults were injured in the shootings at two Durham locations July 14 and 15.
“I think we owe it to our children to see if this technology could help us save some lives and get some shooters off the street,” Middleton said.
ShotSpotter costs $65,000 to $90,000 per square mile per year, with an additional $10,000 per square mile one-time initiation fee, according to the company’s 2018 FAQ page.
The system would cost Durham $235,000 to set up, and $195,000 each following year, The News & Observer reported last March.
The mayor of Wilmington said ShotSpotter’s system has done “a good job,” according to a report by Star News Online.
“I think it’s been a great tool to the department to bring more resources to areas that have higher rates of crime,” Mayor Bill Saffo said to Star News.
Charlotte, on the other hand, ended a contract with ShotSpotter in 2018 and said it did not return on its investment, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Durham City Council members have previously opposed using the system.
Mayor Pro Tem Jillian Johnson said in a meeting last March that she would rather the city used alternatives to government surveillance, the N&O reported.
Durham City Manager Tom Bonfield said the City Council will discuss the ShotSpotter proposal at a future meeting, likely in September.
Violence interrupter program
Middleton also asked council members to look into ways to expand Durham’s violence interrupter program, which the county has sidelined because of the coronavirus.
He suggested the city initiate its own version of the program, as part of a larger, more comprehensive effort to respond to shootings across the city.
The county program, Bull City United, works to de-escalate tensions and prevent shootings in Durham neighborhoods. Community members paid by the public health department identify individuals at risk for involvement in violence and help to direct them to public services.
“That will give us the moral authority to stand before our people, even if we can’t causally point to something we’ve done in a particular shooting, but be able to say that we are literally doing everything we can, as a city,” Middleton said.
Intern Alyssa Lukpat contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 3:53 PM with the headline "There have been 400 shooting incidents in Durham this year. Could this free offer help?."