For some Price Hill residents ShotSpotter can't come soon enough. Cincinnati Police will deploy the technology in June in an effort to decrease gun violence. It's already working in Avondale, where officers have seen a 50% decrease in the number of people shot.
District 3 Police Commander Paul Broxterman stands in St. Lawrence Square, the site of a Thursday news conference, and thinks back to some of the most violent areas. "Right around the area of Warsaw and Elberon has been a hotspot for us. Ross Avenue, which is a few blocks up, was a problem last summer."
He says police are constantly looking at the data and moving patrols around. Police have planned to expand ShotSpotter into parts of East, West and Lower Price Hill since last year, as WVXU reported. The next neighborhoods to get it may be the West End and Over-the-Rhine. A timetable is unclear.
The technology is expensive. It's $65,000 per square mile per year. Cincinnati covers three square miles in Avondale and will cover the same in Price Hill.
Acoustic sensors detect and timestamp gunfire, send it to a national clearinghouse to verify it is a gunshot, and then notify police in less than one minute.
Click below to watch a video about ShotSpotter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJSNQoIvvkY
Rachael Hastings in her job as executive director of the community development organization, Price Hill Will, needs to assure businesses and residents the area is safe. "(They) want to have services to meet the needs of their family, want to be able to walk to the grocery store and maybe walk to get an ice cream."
