According to today's WaPo, "Noise Sensors Back Police On Shooting Of D.C. Teen" (By Carol D. LeonnigWashington Post Staff Writer - Wednesday, October 31, 2007; A01), Shotspotter technology may save the Metropolitan Police Department's credibility upon review of the facts of the DeOnté Rawling's shooting.
An analysis of the this incident using the technology deployed in Ward 8 and the crime area by ShotSpotter, Inc, financed by the FBI, determined that the initial shots did not come from the off-duty police officer's gun first, but from the general area where the now-slain DeOnté Rawlings was shot. This technology has yet to be admitted in courts as evidence against a defendant, noted the Washington Post today, and this technology-based conclusion can not prove that Rawlings had a gun.
Aside from the eventual verdict of this particular case, Shotspotter technology, once deployed in additional DC areas of high gun-violence such as Ward 1 and Ward 2, will decrease gun violence and increase the safety and welfare of our neighborhoods. It will provide for two important features that contributute to this reduction: 1. Improve our awareness of the exact extent of our gunfire epidemic; 2. Provide a fast and accurate police response for a hopeful lock-up to gun-fire perpetrators.
