SAN ANTONIO - It’s only been a few weeks since the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Police Department launched the gunshot detection technology known as Shot Spotter. In that short period of time, the technology has already alerted police a number of times. This weekend appears to be the most recent case.
KENS 5 cameras were rolling Saturday night as police were combing over a crime scene in front of a home on the east side. Shell casings were on the ground and bullet holes through windows. Police on scene told KENS 5 that Shot Spotter notified them of the shooting.
On Monday, KENS 5 spoke to a man whose home was shot at. He did not want to do an on-camera interview, but said police did arrive quicker than usual.
Shot Spotter was set-up in a one-mile radius of the east side with the highest volume of gun violence. An area where people sometimes ignore gunshots, because it’s become routine.
“Every time I turn on the TV, that’s all that pops up, somebody getting killed,” resident Charlene Holland said.
Shot Spotter was also set up in an area on the west side. District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick said that, since the technology has been up and running in the last few weeks, he knows of it alerting police to gunfire at least 10 different times.
SAPD said that, after about a year, it will analyze data to determine Shot Spotter’s true success.
“Then we can do our percentages at the end of the year and decide, is this really going to be a program that’s going to be effective for us? Is this something we can continue to expand on? Keep in place?” said Sergeant Jesse Salame.
“I get afraid, myself. You hear all the time about innocent people getting killed and losing their life and I don’t want to be one of those people,” Holland said.
Police do not want to release the exact location of Shot Spotter because they don’t want to tip-off any criminals.
