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ShotSpotter Now Deployed in Gang Hotspots to Assist SAPS & Cape Town Metro Police to Respond More Effectively to Gun Violence
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Dec. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ShotSpotter (Pty) Ltd., a subsidiary of ShotSpotter, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSTI), a leader in precision
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[{"type":"text","content":"CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Dec. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ShotSpotter (Pty) Ltd., a subsidiary of ShotSpotter, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSTI), a leader in precision policing technology solutions that enable law enforcement to more effectively respond to, investigate, and deter crime, announced today that a new phase of a ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection project has been rolled out in Hanover Park, with other suburbs to also shortly receive the technology. ShotSpotter will assist the City of Cape Town’s metro police and South African Police Service (SAPS) to respond more effectively to escalating gunshot incidents in these hotspot areas, with innocent victims being caught in the crossfire on a regular basis. This new phase follows an initial phase of the project that ran from 2016 to 2019, where ShotSpotter technology was installed and operational in Hanover Park and Manenberg and resulted in over 200 lives being saved, a significant reduction in shooting incidents, and the recovery of illegal guns jumping five-fold in these areas. ShotSpotter is an acoustic gunshot detection system that alerts law enforcement authorities to gunfire incidents within 60 seconds of trigger pull, enabling a fast and precise response. This enhanced response ultimately helps metro police officers and SAPS improve public safety by enabling life-saving trauma interventions to gunshot wound victims, collecting critical evidence for follow on investigations, and aiding in getting criminals and their weapons off the streets. The assistance ShotSpotter provides to law enforcement was recently recognised by National Minister of Police Bheki Cele who stated that the technology has “both a proactive and reactive value and enhances policing in gang-infested hotspots” and for this reason the “police is in support of utilising the technology as part of its multi-disciplinary approach encompassed in the Safer City Policing model.” The new phase of the project deploys ShotSpotter technology in a 9 square kilometre area in Hanover Park (with other suburbs to also shortly receive the rollout) and is being used in conjunction with CCTV cameras and other aerial surveillance technologies in order to help law enforcement identify shooters and lead to successful arrests and prosecutions. Since going live in the first week of December 2022, ShotSpotter has detected 68 gunfire ...