Baltimore officials backed off a decision to purchase a gunshot detection system, saying the cost to use the technology would take away from the city's other crime-fighting efforts.
Kevin Harris, a spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, confirmed that the city reversed an earlier decision to use a grant to buy the ShotSpotter system, which uses receivers installed in communities to detect the sound of gunfire. The technology involves sensors mounted on street lamps and other objects that help police pinpoint where guns are fired, and to respond to shootings.
Cities throughout the country use similar systems, including Pittsburgh, Denver and Washington.
"After evaluating the resource allocation need for the installation, training, and monitoring of such an extensive program, it was determined that the crime fight would be adversely impacted by proceeding with the purchase," Harris said in a statement.
Officials continue to evaluate using a detection program, Harris said, adding that implementing such technology is "continuously weighed against the Baltimore Police Department's ability to proactively engage in the crime fight."
The city announced last February that police were planning to install the system in east and west Baltimore using a $305,000 state grant. Because the city did not proceed with the purchase, Harris said, the state never sent the money.
Police have considered installing the sensors several times over recent years. In 2008, the city teamed up with Johns Hopkins University to test the technology after the anchor institution installed a donated gunshot detection system near the campus. The city decided not to buy the technology at that time due, in part, to the cost.
A ShotSpotter system helped police in Pittsburgh locate two gunshot victims this week, although the technology failed to lead police to a nearby location about two weeks earlier when a man was fatally shot, according to report published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
ywenger@baltsun.com
twitter.com/yvonnewenger