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A TECHNOLOGY SOLUTION FOR GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION
It is hard enough being the new kid on the block. South Bend, Ind. Police Chief Ron Teachman was the rst out-of-area hire since 1939. On top of being an outsider, he joined the force with some big ideas including a plan to adopt a new gun re detection and alert solution to help reduce crime. As expected, there were naysayers to start, but after installing and activating the new system for South Bend last January, the bene ts to the city and department have been signi cant.
The South Bend Police Department has approximately 260 sworn of cers and 102 civilian employees, and services a growing city of more than 102,000 residents. It could be classi ed as one of the smaller, big police departments. Like most police departments, it wrestled with how to best control an increasing amount of gun re activity to reduce crime and make the community safer.
In the case of South Bend, gun violence wasn't currently translating to a high number of gunshot deaths, but could be seen as a potent precursor to that. Additionally, any type of gun re in the community was a concern to the citizens and escalated fear for themselves and their families.
Prior Success Leads to New Installation
Chief Teachman had served as police chief in New Bedford, Mass. prior to South Bend and had experience with a gun re detection and location system they used successfully, called ShotSpotter from SST, Inc. The department and community of New Bedford saw signi - cant results with ShotSpotter, bolstering their ability to quickly nd and respond to more gun re incidents.
In South Bend, Chief Teachman saw an opportunity to reassess ShotSpotter and implement it as a key element in the city's gun violence prevention portfolio. "I knew from the start that ShotSpotter could be a game changer for South Bend, but I was concerned about funding and how to gain support from the department and the community," Teachman said. "I was pleased to nd more exible options now available from SST, and the new ShotSpotter Flex made it easier to enable and manage the system with fewer resources-a big bene t for smaller police departments."
ShotSpotter Flex...