Thumb up
The Pine Bluff City Council is again looking at ShotSpotter technology as a cure to violent crime. Knowing within 10 to 15 seconds when a gun goes off in the city and being able to pinpoint its location within 10 feet would be nice, but can we afford the cure?
Dozens of cities large and small have invested big bucks in the technology. Some swear by it, while officers in other cities swear at it.
The Kansas City, Mo., Police Department removed ShotSpotter from its shopping list after determining the benefits aren’t worth the cost. A number of police agencies have received federal grants to pay for the expensive system.
Evaluating the latter is not easy, with ShotSpotter receiving mixed reviews. A few departments suspect criminals shift their activities to an area without the sensors once they learn the sensors have been placed in an area they once considered safer. We gather that ShotSpotter is not an end-all to crime, but simply a tool for police to use.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
There is no simple fix to our adaptive problem of too many shootings and too many murders in this community. The problem can best be solved by mothers getting tired of burying their children.
Crime patterns like those experienced in Pine Bluff can be altered by deep systemic changes in how the police interact with the community and vice versa.
It is folly to apply a technical solution to an adaptive problem. Too often our leaders fail to determine if something is a problem that an expert can fix or if it requires people in a community to change their values and behavior.
The root causes of most crime are high unemployment, a lack of education, mental health issues and drug addictions.
Federal earmarks to buy the technology are getting scarcer, a company representative told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee Wednesday, and some cities are using grants and fundraisers to pay for the technology.
Pine Bluff Weed and Seed attempted in 2010 to gain $1.5 million in funding to bring the technology to the city through a congressional earmark, but the effort failed in a year in which the number of earmarks plunged.
Using sensors to triangulate the location of gunfire in the target coverage area can cost $40,000 per square mile per year. Could we use the dollars more wisely by beefing up the police force, proving the officers with better equipment and training, and even paying the men and women more to retain the good officers?
ShotSpotter now offers a subscription-based service, providing the equipment, maintenance, data interception and interpretation, crime scene analysis and expert court testimony. Perhaps a test drive to evaluate the merits of the technology might be warranted.
There are some openings on the city’s Crime Advisory Commission. Applications are available through the mayor’s office. The commission members might come up with a better idea for fighting crime.
Dumb criminals
Thumb down
Two men were arrested Sunday in connection with the burglary of police agency vehicles. It is not smart to break into a police car.
The two will not receive the academic awards at the Jefferson County Steel Bar Bed and Breakfast.
Officers take breaking into police cars very personally. The word went out and confidential informants were questioned. Police obtained an address and arrested the two at the address, collecting some of the stolen items in the house.
An AR-15 rifle was found in a closet. The suspect on probation on charges that included aggravated robbery and theft of property claimed he bought it from a man he knew only by his street name of “Big B.”
We all benefit when the crooks are not very smart.