The Northside Shotspotter's early results

Some interesting early data has been published by the MPD. It looks like the Northside Shotspotter has a pretty good reach into the neighborhoods and not just the commercial areas like W. Broadway, Penn and Lyndale. It's taken long enough...but at least it's installed now!

Every night before shotspotter was installed there were dozens of shots fired calls, especially in the summer. Shots fired calls must be very frustrating for Police because if you are inside your house the direction a sound is coming from can be very deceiving. We never called unless the shots were close enough that there was no mistaking the direction. Last summer we had a police squad drive down our alley and stop to ask us if we heard any shots fired because they had gotten a call. We hadn't heard a thing. What a waste of resources, for a squad to go driving around trying to find a needle in a haystack! In most cases, the shooters were probably long gone with no evidence, unless they left a body on a sidewalk somewhere. Yet there was no alternative, until now.
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Early ShotSpotter Data
Minneapolis Police Department 4th Precinct

In the twelve day between March 10th and March 22nd, 2007, ShotSpotter activations have triggered police dispatches to 33 locations across six North side neighborhoods where gunshots were suspected.

ShotSpotter Calls
4th Precinct
March 10 - March 22, 2007
3/14/2007 20:26:38 Folwell AQT
3/17/2007 20:23:51 Folwell AQT
3/20/2007 15:26:52 Folwell AQT
3/11/2007 0:28:00 Hawthorne DEA
3/14/2007 23:23:42 Hawthorne CNL
3/15/2007 3:34:05 Hawthorne AQT
3/15/2007 18:18:14 Hawthorne AQT
3/15/2007 21:31:24 Hawthorne AQT
3/16/2007 18:24:08 Hawthorne AQT
3/18/2007 0:50:21 Hawthorne AST
3/20/2007 22:19:17 Hawthorne AQT
3/22/2007 21:59:40 Hawthorne AQT
3/13/2007 22:32:32 Jordan AQT
3/14/2007 9:18:36 Jordan AOK
3/15/2007 0:01:37 Jordan AST
3/15/2007 22:55:14 Jordan AQT
3/16/2007 2:09:35 Jordan AQT
3/16/2007 15:28:21 Jordan CNL
3/16/2007 16:38:34 Jordan AQT
3/17/2007 4:02:40 Jordan AQT
3/17/2007 20:47:42 Jordan UNF
3/18/2007 1:18:16 Jordan BKG
3/19/2007 10:36:24 Jordan AOK
3/19/2007 21:15:59 Jordan AQT
3/19/2007 22:12:54 Jordan AQT
3/22/2007 22:54:36 Jordan AOK
3/18/2007 18:03:02 McKinley AST
3/17/2007 19:48:08 Near North RPT
3/19/2007 4:18:55 Near North AQT
3/10/2007 19:47:35 Willard-Hay AQT
3/17/2007 0:55:10 Willard-Hay AQT
3/19/2007 1:00:48 Willard-Hay GOA
3/19/2007 18:52:38 Willard-Hay AQT


Jordan neighborhood has seen the highest number of ShotSpotter calls for service at 42% of the total ShotSpotter events. As in the Southside neighborhoods, ShotSpotter shows promising initial success. One of these early successes occurred on March 18 in the Jordan neighborhood. Police were dispatched to a ShotSpotter activation in the 2700 block of Knox Avenue North. There they located 19-year-old Jay Kong carrying a handgun. Kong was arrested and has been charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, a felony. The officers recovered the .22 caliber revolver used to fire the shots, permanently removing that gun from the City streets. (07—63716)

ShotSpotter provides police with better accuracy when responding to shots calls by triangulating the position of the gunshot using multiple sensors. This greater accuracy brings officers directly to where they are needed most, both to apprehend suspects and to coordinate the delivery of emergency medical services. This was demonstrated in the March 17th ShotSpotter activation in the Near North neighborhood. The ShotSpotter activation directed officers to 1422 Golden Valley Road. Behind that address, officers found the victim of a shooting. The 32-year-old man was transported to North Memorial Medical Center via ambulance for treatment of a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his leg (07-063389).

ShotSpotter is now fully operational in a four square mile area of the City. Although the total area covered by ShotSpotter accounts for less than 10 percent of the city’s geographic area, those four square miles account for more than 50 percent of the city’s shots fired calls to 911. That means the technology is going where it’s needed most. Of course, ShotSpotter is only one of the investments in technology made possible by the public safety technology funding in the City budget. Along with new installations of security cameras, ShotSpotter is expected to help make Minneapolis neighborhoods safer by deterring crime, allowing better police response and providing valuable evidence for prosecutors.