Wireless Gunshot Location Project

As a result of previous efforts made with the US Department of Justice’s (USDOJ) Safe Neighborhood’s “Project Cease Fire” – South Carolina, the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, Southeast Region (NLECTC-SE) is continuing the efforts made with gunshot location technology, in order to develop a portable system. Through funding by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a program of the USDOJ, research and development of this portable system will occur.

The design goal of this project will be to develop a Rapid Deployment System (RDS) based on the existing ShotSpotter Gunshot location system technology that can be deployed quickly within an urban environment. This effort will incorporate the use of wireless technology (radio and cellular based) for data communication, development of azimuthal sensors to permit larger coverage areas for a given number of sensors, and develop a methodology of standard operating procedures.

The functional goal of this project is to demonstrate that RDS performance and accuracy are equal to, or better than that of the existing landline based gunshot location system technology. This will be accomplished by gathering and analyzing the data from a side-by-side test of the RDS and an existing gunshot location system currently installed in North Charleston and South Carolina.

The testing and evaluation of this project is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2008. Information on the project will be published through NIJ and made available to the law enforcement community.