Shot Spotter Part III

Once again, an effort that only points a great big glowing arrow at the manpower shortage:

• Hoping to quell rising violence on the South and West sides, Chicago police are again turning to sensors to more quickly track down gunfire in some of the city's most crime-ridden communities.
  
  The Police Department began using gunshot detection technology early last month in two 1.5-square-mile areas to try to better pinpoint the location of gunshots, Superintendent Garry McCarthy disclosed Thursday. The sensors sometimes give officers information before 911 calls are made, he said.
  
  In the past decade, the city twice installed the devices but ultimately removed them because of their high price tags and ineffectiveness. Since then the technology has improved "dramatically," McCarthy said.

From our 011 District correspondent however, a different tale:

• Don't believe the gun shot sensor hype SCC.  Even the dispatchers, after giving out calls of "shots fired," say over the air, "Now we are getting verifications/sensor readings/additional info" of loud reports.  It's BS.

After reading the rest of the article, we're inclined to agree:

• After a shot is fired, three or more sensors detect the sound and calculate its location. Trained acoustics experts in the company's 24/7 review center in California confirm if the sound came from a weapon and not a car backfire, fireworks or other loud noises. The technicians then pass the information onto Chicago's Crime Prevention and Information Center, which dispatches officers to the scene.

Really?   "Trained acoustic experts" from California are determining if there are shots being fired in Chicago and then telling CPIC about it, who can then send officers?  By the time that happens, the ambulance has already removed the victim, transported him to the hospital, and the doctor is making the first cut.

We give it a year before the California company outsources the entire operation to India.