Greenville PD to Use ‘Shotspotter’ to Reduce Gun Violence

GPD uses new 'ShotSpotter' technology designed to make the community safer

The Greenville Police Department in North Carolina, along with Vidant Medical Center, East Carolina University, Greenville Housing Authority, Pitt County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Greenville, and the Greenville District Attorney’s office, have announced a unique partnership to deploy the ShotSpotter gunfire detection and alert solution in an effort to reduce gun violence.

ShotSpotter is a leading gunshot detection solution, and Gold Award Winner in the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program, has been deployed in more than 90 cities across the United States.

However, this the first time multiple community organizations have partnered to co-fund the technology.

“ShotSpotter will help them improve patient outcomes by both deterring gun violence as well as getting gunshot victims to the hospital faster,” explained Dr. Eric Toschlog, Chief Trauma Surgeon for Vidant Health, one of the funders and supporters of ShotSpotter

Vidant Medical Center in Greenville is the third largest Level I Trauma Center in the nation and serves as the flagship teaching hospital for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

(See a brief overview of ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection for Cities. Courtesy of ShotSpotter and YouTube. Posted on Jun 8, 2018.)

“When you have that level of gunfire, 500-1,000, year after year, you have to do something about it,” added Greenville Police Chief Mark Holtzman.

“ShotSpotter was selected so that police will know about every gunfire incident and respond quickly every time.”

Greenville Police Chief Mark Holtzman
Greenville Police Chief Mark Holtzman

“With ShotSpotter, our officers are notified within 30-45 seconds of gunfire, with an alert that is sent directly to their mobile phone with the exact location of the gunfire.”

“That’s a huge advantage for us.”

East Carolina University (ECU) Police Chief Jon R. Barnwell, stressed the support of their university for ShotSpotter in making the community safer.

ECU is the first university in North Carolina to be equipped with ShotSpotter, and its officers and dispatch center will deploy to calls along the university properties.

ShotSpotter went into effect on Thursday, Feb. 8th, with a coverage area of 3.6 square miles in Greenville, and is already yielding results, recently, alerting police of 12 rounds fired.

Police rapidly responded to the scene, recovered a gun and shell casings which led to an arrest.

“ShotSpotter can also help us with jury trials,” added Farix Dixon, Pitt County District Attorney.

“It is one thing to say that two shots were fired and another to play a recording of it.”

Paula Vance, Pitt County Sheriff; Wayman Williams, Greenville Housing Authority; and Chief Randall Walston, Vidant Security Chief of Police, also participated in the announcement.

Courtesy of ShotSpotter
Courtesy of ShotSpotter

Police rely on the community to call 911 if gunshots are fired, but only an average of 20% of incidents are ever reported.

ShotSpotter uses an array of acoustic sensors that are connected wirelessly to ShotSpotter’s centralized, cloud-based system to reliably detect and accurately locate gunshots.

The program provides an alert to police officers on an officer’s mobile phone, in their MDT console and in the 911 center, within 60 seconds of gunfire, including complete information on number of rounds, audio of the gunfire, and tactical intelligence such as “multiple shooters” or “automatic weapons.”

Ralph A. Clark, President and CEO of ShotSpotter
Ralph A. Clark, President and CEO of ShotSpotter

“It’s inspiring to see these different community organizations come together in Greenville to address the problem of gun violence,” said Ralph Clark, President and CEO of ShotSpotter.

“Greenville’s unique collaborative approach can be a model for other cities with persistent gun violence where police haven’t budgeted for gunshot detection.”

“We are excited to see how Greenville’s progressive approach to gun violence led by a partnership across police, healthcare, higher education and the city can help fulfill the promise of making it a safer community.”

ShotSpotter Takes Home the Gold in 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program

ShotSpotter

2018 ASTORS Gold

  • Best Gunshot Detection System

    • ShotSpotter

 

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program is specifically designed to honor distinguished government and vendor solutions that deliver enhanced value, benefit and intelligence to end users in a variety of government, homeland security and public safety vertical markets.

William "Bill" Bratton, former police commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD), the Boston Police Department (BPD) and former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), will speak at the 2019 'ASTORS' Homeland Security Awards Luncheon at ISC East 2019, on Wednesday, November 20th, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center (Courtesy of Teneo Risk)
Bill Bratton, former police commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD), the Boston Police Department (BPD) and former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), will speak at the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Luncheon at ISC East 2019.

The 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program drew an overwhelming response from industry leaders with a record high number of corporate and government nominations received, as well as record breaking ‘ASTORS’ Presentation Luncheon Attendees, with top firms trying to register for the exclusive high – end luncheon and networking opportunity – right up to the event kickoff on Wednesday afternoon, at the ISC East registration!

Over 130 distinguished guests representing National, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Firms, gathered from across North America, Europe and the Middle East to be honored among their peers in their respective fields which included:

2018 ASTORS

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2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Luncheon at ISC East

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