News & Commentary
Jun 06, 2012
New Appeal of Technology and Its Threat to Personal Privacy - The Tug of War Continues
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Jun 05, 2012
Gunshot Detection Systems Need To Be Closely Monitored
Many police officials say the system has significantly improved response time for crimes involving firearms and has increased community confidence and helped deter gun crime by demonstrating that the police can show up quickly at the right place.
The technology, they say, has given officers critical information about what to expect upon arriving at a crime scene — like whether a gun was fired from a car and if so, how fast and in what direction the car was traveling — and has offered a level of precision in locating gunfire rarely afforded by 911 calls.
As long as the audio devices only listen and record gunshots, it’s a promising tool for law enforcement to improve their response times to gun crimes and their chances of apprehending the perpetrators.
The downside is when the microphones start recording private conversations. As the Times article points out, they already are doing this in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst at the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project weighs in
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