Northwest Florida law enforcement agencies: ‘ShotSpotter’ gunshot recognition technology accurate, reliable

Alexa Daly
·2 min read

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — It’s been about six months since ShotSpotter has been up and running in Pensacola and Escambia County.

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said it’s already alerted them of more than 300 gunshots.

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“We have found that the ShotSpotter program is very accurate, very reliable,” Simmons said. “With regards to indicating a shot has fired, or two shots, or five shots have fired. When we get there, sure enough, we find five shell casings.”

The ShotSpotter technology uses audio sensors to determine where a gunshot is fired, alerting law enforcement.

ShotSpotter is currently being used to detect shots in 3 square miles in the county and 3 square miles in the city, focusing on high-crime areas.

Both the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Pensacola Police Department said the technology has led to quicker response times and quicker collecting of evidence.

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“It’s been an asset to us and the community,” Pensacola Police Department Public Information Officer Mike Wood said. “It’s given us very, very few false calls. Most of the indications of shots being fired are legitimate, and there have been some cases where there were shots fired that we would have never known about had it not been for ShotSpotter.”

Last year, the state approved over $800,000 in funding to bring ShotSpotter to Escambia County for two years.

“I will tell you that at the two-year mark, then we’ll evaluate it and discuss whether it’s worth the continuing funding of it,” Simmons said. “Or if we go ahead and just say ‘Hey it worked for what it was but is it worth maybe funding more deputies instead of that?’”

ShotSpotter was incorporated into the sheriff’s office’s Real Time Crime Center. Simmons said that the center has already been a game-changer.

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