In addition to tracking stolen property and kidnapped victims, GPS positioners can also be used to lead police officers to criminal offenses. Dozens of US cities use the Shotspotter Gunshot locating system to track and track armed violence and now Birmingham has followed the claim in the United Kingdom. As its name suggests, the Shotspotter Gunshot Location System detects sharp shot-like noises with built-in GPS locators. The detectors return to the police station where trained officers find that the noise is actually shots or something else. If a noise is a firearm, the cops will be on the scene.
The system was built in Birmingham's most crippled areas of crime, where it is well-liked that sensors and rapid reaction times help to reduce the rapidly increasing level of armed violence. The sensors are able to shoot firearms and similar sound bursts within a radius of 25 m. They record the voice recording and the GPS location, which must be returned to the police station where specially trained officials determine whether action is needed. Chris McKeogh, commander of the West Midlands police, says bullets produce loud waves with a "signature" that the trained officers will be filling. able to recognize. The only drawback of the system is that while the shot from the outside has a good chance of detecting, the shot firing with the silencer can not be recorded.
Depending on your source, the Shotspotter system is currently used in 50 or 51 cities in the United States, with 85% accuracy. They also reported that they had a significant impact on armed crime, reducing the city by up to 33%.
Birmingham hopes to see similar results, especially if we consider that the system is not insignificant at £ 150,000 and its annual maintenance cost is around £ 21,000. Superintendent McKeogh is optimistic and believes that the system will allow the police to respond more quickly to weapons-related offenses, minimizing the damage caused by vulnerable communities and dramatically improving the chances of perpetrators.
The pilot project, the effectiveness of the introduction of Birmingham, will be revised after six months and then one year. If successful, other police forces in the system – rarely London, Manchester, Nottingham and Liverpool – can rarely persuade them to link their own funds with their own Shotspotter Gunshot Location Systems.