The gunshot-detection system Dallas bought last fall has so far fallen short of expectations, a police official said, in part because it can cover only a small slice of the city.
Maj. Yancey Nelson told the City Council’s public safety committee Monday the department is now seeking a free pilot from vendors that could lay the groundwork for a broader rollout that would also link the tool with other investigative technologies police already use or plan to adopt.
“We just haven’t seen the success that we thought that we would have,” Nelson, who oversees the department’s Southeast Division, said while fielding questions from committee members.
The update comes more than a year after the City Council approved a three-year, $336,362 contract with Crime Gun Intelligence Technologies for its gunshot-detection system, FireFLY LE. The mobile system flags sounds that may be gunfire for a police employee to review, and if that person confirms it as a likely gunshot, patrol officers are notified of the possible location.
Breaking News
The city’s contract was for 24 FireFLY LE sensors, which together can cover about a square-mile area, Nelson said.
Iterations of gunshot-detection technology are in use across the country, though leaders in some cities have questioned their accuracy, cost and impact on crime. In recent years, cities like Chicago and San Antonio have cut short or declined to renew contracts with ShotSpotter, another major vendor, citing concerns about expense, effectiveness and other issues.
Before last year, Dallas had been circling gunshot-detection tools for more than a decade. City leaders have said random gunfire is a common complaint from residents.
As of Monday, police received roughly 11,500 calls across the city they classified as “random gunfire.” Southern parts of Dallas and the department’s Northeast Division — which includes parts of Northeast Dallas, Lakewood, Lake Highlands and Far East Dallas — have accounted for most of those calls so far this year.
Council member Jaime Resendez, who represents District 5 in east Dallas, said his constituents often rank random gunfire — a “weekly, sometimes daily concern for families,” he said — among their top worries, particularly in Pleasant Grove.
The department’s system flagged 166 potential gunshots over the last 12 months, according to Allison Hudson, a police spokesperson.
Council member Bill Roth, who represents District 11, suggested the cost seemed hard to justify given the tool’s limited coverage area, but added that he needed to be brought up to speed on what the technology can do.
A key to the technology having an impact, Nelson said, is integrating it with the department’s current tools, including licence-plate reading cameras.
“That’s why,” he explained, “the pivot is to something that’s an integration of technologies, where everything works together.”
Council member Cara Mendelsohn, who represents District 12 in far north Dallas, echoed concerns about gunfire and asked at one point whether the technology could be used to go after offenders. She said she figured some residents may not be calling the police when they hear shots.
“People of Dallas need to know it is not OK to have random gunfire,” she said, “and we’re going to put the tools in place to try to stop it … it is terrorizing people, and it’s not OK.”