10:30am | The Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) is considering the implementation of a gunshot detection system within the city, a highly advanced monitoring system that provides exact locations of gunshots in specific areas.

ShotSpotter, the system the LBPD is contemplating to employ within the city, uses multiple sound and visual sensors placed throughout a particular area to detect gunshot impacts. It simultaneously directs cameras to the detected area, permitting law enforcers to possibly see who/where the perpetrator is/goes.

Braden Phillips, the Administrative Bureau Chief for the LBPD, wanted to emphasize the “considering” factor of implementing such a system when he spoke to the Long Beach Post. “Right now, the cost making it happen is what remains one of the biggest cons of partaking in such a system,” Phillips said, explaining that it will cost about $300,000 to cover a single square-mile if they were to use ShotSpotter, one of the most recognized gunshot detection systems in the world. In fact, it was this particular reason as to why Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti dropped the system after a highly-publicized introduction to it only a year ago in Florida.

Given that Long Beach itself is 50-square-miles, it would be impossible to implement it city-wide. This, however, presents a two-fold problem, for it becomes not only a choice of where to administer the system, but finding ways to make it re-locatable if certain areas no longer need it. “Let’s say we put ShotSpotter in Neighborhood A,” explains Phillips, “and suddenly Neighborhood B sees a rise in gun violence. As the system is now, we can’t just uproot it and move it to B. We suddenly have a $300,000 system in an area it’s no longer needed — and this doesn’t mention the cost of upkeep.”

As the LBPD continues to weigh the pros and cons of employing the ShotSpotter, readers can find out more information on the system and where else it has been administered by visiting www.shotspotter.com.