The city of Chicago has tested gunshot detection technology for the last few years, previous posts on this can be found here and here. The CPD tested systems from ShotSpotter, PSI (their SECURES technology was acquired by ShotSpotter in April 2009), and Safety Dynamics. According to an article in the Sun-Times in Oct 2009, the city conducted three separate tests of gunshot sensors between 2003 and 2007 in the West Side’s Harrison Police District. Only on one occasion did the detection system send a warning prior to a person calling 911 to report the shooting. As a result, the city felt the gunshot detection systems were too expensive at a cost of $200,000 a square mile.
This mixed success concurs with a similar study on the effectiveness of SECURES gunshot detection system (not ShotSpotter) released in 2008 (based on data from 2005-6).
Despite the lackluster results, the city is going forward with installing the technology in the Loop. It will cover all two square miles. The technology will allow for real time updates on shooters, while distributing this information remotely. The cost is expected to be around $400,000.
rshah Chicago, Gunshot Detection
[From CTA adds cameras to 24 Green Line stations :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Transportation]
The CTA is busy adding cameras as mentioned a few months ago. The CTA has now installed 1,657 cameras, with 73 rail stations covered. Part of this is a high definition camera at the all the entrances.
Cameras already are on CTA buses. Besides installing cameras on train platforms, CTA President Richard Rodriguez said each station will have a high-definition camera to capture the image of everyone who walks into the station. “We’ll be able to identify what time someone entered, and their facial features,” he said.
The cameras are seen as a deterrent to crime. Robberies went up 77 percent on CTA trains, platforms and buses between 2006 and 2008. Here are the funding numbers:
The CTA received $22.6 million in federal funding to expand its security and surveillance network. The Green Line project cost about $4 million, and the CTA plans to use another $9 million to add at least one high-definition camera to every rail station by this summer, as well as more cameras across the system — beginning with the Red and Brown lines. Remaining funds will be used to further improve the security network.
rshah Chicago
[From Chicago homicides drop for 2009 - chicagotribune.com]
Here are the stats:
2003 – 598
2004 – 448
2005 – 448
2006 – 467
2007 – 445
2008 – 510
2009 – 453
While cameras were mentioned last year as a strategy to drive down crime, they received no credit in the Tribune article. The CPD highlighted its city gang teams, use of informants, and analyzing crime data as the best explanations for the reduced crime.
rshah Chicago, Crime
[From Governing through Crime: Crime Decline Conundrum]
Why is crime going up? or down? is a timeless issue and one that has many answers. In Chicago, Wesley Skogan has talked about how larger demographic trends are affecting crime in big cities and the role of gangs on Chicago’s crime rate.
Jonathon Simon over at Governing through Crime also adds his thoughts. Commenting on the latest drops in crime big cities, he speculates on the top three factors underlying the crime drops:
1. Bottoming out of the de-industrialization of American cities that began in 1946 and continued through the 1980s. Even if new economic engines of prosperity have not exactly re-emerged in many cities, the process of losing existing assets has run its course.
2. Demographic diversification of urban neighborhoods through immigration and in-migration of suburbanites fleeing unsustainable lifestyles.
3. Better trained and motivated police forces.
rshah Crime
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