by: Dr. Samori Swygert
In the wake of recent shootings the issue of gun control has become a hot topic. Gun control has maneuvered its way to center stage of American politics and mass media. The country has been divided by the viewpoints and beliefs of many organizations. The NRA (National Rifle Association), the Tea Party and many other groups advocate a pro-gun position, while many victim’s rights groups lobby for tougher gun control.
Urban inner-city gang violence, racially motivated homicides, crimes of passion, or mass shootings like Virginia Tech, Newton, and even domestic governmental attacks like shootings at Washington Navy Yard, and Fort Hood have captivated and paralyzed America.
However, a new crime fighting tool has emerged a little over a decade ago. A program called Shotspotter, originally developed by the Department of Defense, has cities nationwide opting in to implement this new technological strategy. This system employs the use of sound sensors placed on city streetlamps and buildings that detect and record the audio when a gunshot occurs. The data is transmitted over a secure Wi-Fi connection in 3 to 5 seconds from the location of incident, to a command center or police station. The alert registers in the station with a unique audio signature or acoustic fingerprint. The fingerprint denotes the time, location, and is accurate to within feet of the shots fired.
The system has even been upgraded to record photos, and video footage now. The company claims the system’s video component is adaptable to any video source and camera specifications. This enhancement allows authorities to record footage of escape routes, number of individuals at the scene, and a wide array of forensic evidence necessary to conduct a thorough investigation. This strategy is almost real time monitoring of a crime, and aids in the rapid life saving deployment of medical assistance, quick apprehension of criminals with reduction of unsolved cold cases. This also decreases the chances of mistaken identity, and tampering of the scene of the crime.
CURRENT USE
Currently Shotspotter is being used in over 73 cities in the U.S.. The published cities of note include: Seattle, Washington, Baltimore, Maryland, Gary, Indiana, Englewood, Chicago Lawn, Harrison and Grand Crossing portions of Chicago, Illinois, Hempstead, Roosevelt, and Uniondale, Long Island, New York, Newark, New Jersey, and Washington D.C..
The photo, and video upgrades added a tremendous edge to this system, but that’s not the tip of the iceberg!! The system will use Safety Dynamics’ camera that will direct a high resolution camera at the shooter’s face for facial recognition. The image is then ran through a biometric software database named, Face First Software, hosted by a company named, Airborne Biometric Group. This seeks to make a match with in prior records of individuals in their database. The software is said to create a profile for new shooters. Many of the faces compiled into their database are sourced from 3rd party affiliates such as Facebook, and dating sites.
I think that this has some applicable uses especially when we consider the number of homicides in Miami, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and other major cities. We are losing a large amount of our young brothers and sisters to senseless violence, and so much beautiful young potential has gone to waste. This does seem a little “big brotherish” in scope but I can see some good. This would also allow individuals to keep their guns for true home protection and self defense use, and not wanton criminal abuse of a firearm.
Furthermore, this can reduce cases of “my word against your word” police shootings of unarmed individuals. I think criminals and police alike, will think twice about how they conduct themselves knowing that they will be videotaped, photographed, recorded, and facially scanned when discharging a firearm. I wonder what would have been the outcome of Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, and countless other victims if the prosecution had video, photo, and audio evidence.
They have also developed a tattoo recognition database, but I will post that article with other new practices like this pre-crime system they have developed. Until next time, be blessed!!
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