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Detection technology helps U.S. police track down gunfires

Xinhua, April 20, 2017 Adjust font size:

A gunfire detection technology has helped police arrest the suspect of a random shooting spree, which killed three people on Tuesday in Fresno, California.

The ShotSpotter technology is a system of acoustic sensors, which "listen" to shots and immediately identify the location, number of shots, and types of weapons within its area of coverage.

Those sensors, installed at about 30 feet (9.14 m) or more above street level, immediately provided accurate location and helped police arrested the suspect at the scene. For every 1/4 mile (422.5 m), there are 15 to 20 sensors which work together in detection.

Every time when there is a very loud noise, the sensors will be triggered and start to record. Each sensor will capture the time, location and the audio. In less than 45 seconds, the system will verify whether that noise is gunfire or not and inform the law enforcement.

Since police can get accurate information before they arrive at the scene, they are able to locate the victims as quickly as possible. Otherwise, they would have to waste their valuable time and resources driving block by block to look for evidence as criminals escape the scene.

"A total of 16 rounds were fired according to our gunshot detection system, and all of those occurred in approximately a minute to a minute and a half," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. "As a result, what we know is that three people were shot and one person shot at in less than a two-minute timeframe."

Without the ShotSpotter system, more people may have been killed, Dyer told to Fox News.

The City of Fresno installed the ShotSpotter system in 2015. Other cities across the United States using this technology include New York City, New Jersey, San Diego, San Francisco and many more.

The shooting spree began around 10:45 a.m. local time (1745 GMT) Tuesday and 16 shots were fired at four different locations in less than one minute.

The 39-year-old suspect, identified as Kori Ali Muhammad, was taken into custody. Endi