The District's high-tech gunshot-detection system has crossed the Anacostia River into the 5th District in Northeast.
Shotspotter, the audio-monitoring tool used by law-enforcement agencies to pinpoint gunfire, previously was confined to the Metropolitan Police Department's 7th District in Southeast. But new devices recently have been installed in the 5th and 6th police districts, and the system eventually could cover the city.
"The more we expand, the more accurate it gets," acting Chief Cathy L. Lanier told The Washington Times. "Hopefully, we'll have one of the largest gunshot-detection systems in the U.S."
The devices, which are about the size of a coffee can, have been in place in Southeast since August. They use a triangulation system to coordinate with other nearby Shotspotter devices to determine precisely where gunshots are fired.
Then information then is immediately relayed to police.
"The dispatch center will know within about 10 seconds," said Gregg Rowland, senior vice president of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Shotspotter Inc. "We literally put a dot on the map and give them the exact address and time."
Mr. Rowland won't say where authorities place the devices, but you won't find them on telephone poles or street lights where they can easily be seen.
They have a range of about 2 miles and are guaranteed accurate to within about 75 feet, though typically they are closer to the exact location, he said.
The devices also are sophisticated enough to distinguish gunshots from similar sounds such as a car backfiring or firecrackers going off.
Chief Lanier said during a D.C. Council hearing earlier this month that the system had identified 31 shootings and led to three arrests since its installation.
