MANSFIELD — Police chief Keith Porch would like to triple the coverage area for gunfire-detection technology in Mansfield.
The leader of a local neighborhood watch would also like to see that happen, launching an online petition to urge the city to expand the program, which is nearing the end of a one-year testing and evaluation period.
The city’s police chief said Tuesday his department has applied for grant funding that would allow ShotSpotter to be expanded to three square miles, up from its current one square mile.
Porch said he didn’t know when the state would announce grant awards.
The city instituted the technology in March 2021 using a state grant to cover all but $2,000 of the cost.
ShotSpotter placed acoustic sensors on buildings and light poles, over a one-square mile area of the city’s 31-square mile area for one year.
According to the company website, “ShotSpotter enables police, when they choose, to get reports of shots fired in a much shorter time frame – in Chicago, within 20 seconds instead of seven or eight minutes, according to their chief of police – and to build trust with the community and gather evidence, spent bullet casings, to begin to trace guns that could be used in crimes.”
Porch said the department will do a “complete evaluation” at the end of the testing period. But the chief is happy with what he has observed, thus far.
“In my opinion, it has saved two or three lives,” the chief said.
One of those came about a month after the technology was deployed when the system detected multiple gunshots near a residence in the 200 block of South Diamond Street. Officers in the area also heard shots and several calls from residents came in via 911.
But ShotSpotter, which uses acoustic sensors on buildings and light poles, provided a specific location and an audio recording of the incident in less than a minute, allowing officers to more quickly close in on the site.
Officers racing to the Diamond Street scene stopped a fleeing vehicle and found a passenger suffering from at least two gunshot wounds. As officers assisted the injured man, Sgt. Ryan Grimley found a second victim laying in the front yard of a nearby residence on Ford Avenue.
The victim was bleeding profusely from a leg wound, going in and out of consciousness. Grimley applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding until emergency medical assistance arrived.
Porch said the rapid and pinpointed location of the shooting via ShotSpotter made a difference.
Deborah Mount, secretary of the Cherry Hill Neighborhood Watch Group, is pushing for an expansion of the program, including the online petition.
“Our neighborhood has been having an increase of shots fired incidents in the last several months and numerous neighbors have contacted the mayor to ask if ShotSpotter could come to our neighborhood,” she said.
“It has proved futile so far, but we heard other neighborhood watches were asking him the same thing,” Mount said.
“So, if the past is any indicator, nothing seems to gain their attention, but we decided to start an online petition to try. I’m going to be contacting the other neighborhood watch leaders shortly so they can spread the word as well,” Mount said.
According to her petition, the “Mansfield Police Department is understaffed about 12 officers and is having difficulty addressing crime spikes. Thus, it is time to employ technology to partially fill the gap as the staffing shortage worsens.”
Porch said ShotSpotter is a “force multiplier,” but also said crime data would determine the location of the additional coverage area if the grant is approved.
“I know Deb feels her area is deserving. I would love to have the whole city covered,” he said. “We have to deploy this technology where the data most supports it — gun-related crimes, weapons violations and shots-fire reports.
At the rate of $49,500 per square mile, it would cost the the city more than $1.5 million annually to deploy the technology city-wide.
Some communities have used American Rescue Plant Act funds to pay for ShotSpotter. The chief said he has suggested such usage in Mansfield.
“We currently have vacant officer positions. Could I use unspent personnel dollars? Could I say we could reduce (approved manpower) by one position if we can support this technology? The sustainability of this program is of paramount importance to me,” the chief said.
