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Comment by JoeyBananas | Hacker News Reader

I've experienced living in a neighborhood covered by shot spotter and hearing gun shots outside, and I think shot spotter is great. I want the cops to actually show up and arrest whoever is terrorizing everybody. Thank you very much

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Chicago is letting the ShotSpotter contract expire instead renewing this year after the data revealed that it did not have any positive effect on crime reduction.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/chicago-not-renew-shotspotter-con...

I think that's because our police force is incompetent though. Shotspotter may very well suck but if the police cant solve shit either way its not shotspotters fault. Murder has a 5% clearance rate here

It's true. They only have an 8% success rate on closing homocide cases. It is the lowest in the country by several points.

Are they incompetent or just aren't even trying? I ask myself this question all the time.

Has having ShotSpotter in your neighborhood increased the safety?

Is there faster response? higher arrest rate? decrease in crime?

Is there any verifiable third party evidence that ShotSpotter (or whatever it’s called now) can even do what it claims to?

In Chicago they will respond to them aggressively . Gang members have figured this out and will have “decoy” shots fired before a hit takes place to tie up police.

What a perfect example of Campbell's Law.

When there was shooting outside of my apartment, shot spotter called the cops instantly.

It isn't supposed to govern the city, it's only supposed to spot the gun shots.

Just yesterday the cops apparently showed up at a house 5 doors down from me and shot someone's dog right in front of their family.

Not sure if we have shotspotter, but at least I know the police responded!

(I say apparently because, while I heard the gunshots, and I later saw a heavy police presence and animal control hauling away what appeared to be a dead small animal, I don't ACTUALLY know what happened because I wasn't present at the time. All I know is what a resident of the house told me).

Do they?

Even in Baltimore where police response times can be total garbage..they will show up for shot spotter. At least from my experience.

Calling 911 for anything else there is a long delay unfortunately. Last time I called for a car jacking right outside my home I was on hold for ten mins. Cops didn't arrive for another 20.

"When seconds count, the police are only minutes away"

Because shotspotter can triangulate and give accurate location of shots. When people call in the area they need to cover can be massive.

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