BSO Pulling Plug On Gun Shot Spotter
POMPANO BEACH (CBS4) – It looks like Big Brother won't be listening in Pompano Beach any more.
After a year's trial the half a million dollar ShotSpotter system, on loan from the FBI, will be dismantled and returned, according to The Sun-Sentinel.
Installed last year, the ShotSpotter system entailed 39 special sensors within a two-square-mile area identified as a high-crime neighborhood. The system's develops said the sensors could pick up the sound of a gun shot and relay the information back to the Broward Sheriff's Office which could dispatch deputies.
The problem is the system couldn't distinguish between gunshots, firecrackers, vehicle backfires or big trucks downshifting on nearby I-95.
The sheriff's office said they could chalk up only four arrests to the system compared to the many man hours wasted by deputies checking out false alarms.
