Village of Bellwood Integrates ShotSpotter to Enhance Public Safety

The integration, scheduled for completion in early September, will allow the ShotSpotter GLS to interoperate with the city's cameras and surveillance system to provide Bellwood police with real-time notification of gunshot events as well as precise event data, detailed forensic and intelligence analysis for arrest and prosecution, and information on a shooter's location, including drive-by shooters on the move.

Bellwood is the first municipality in Illinois to cover its entire service area with a ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System.

Current Technologies Corporation (CTC), the company that provided Bellwood's wireless surveillance system, will install and integrate ShotSpotter with the city's Proxim wireless network and surveillance camera system.

"ShotSpotter is an ideal complement to Bellwood's successful wireless surveillance camera system," said Steve Daugherty, president of Current Technologies Corporation (CTC). "The gunshot location technology not only will enable the Village's police officers to arrive on the scene of a gunshot event faster, but as we integrate ShotSpotter into the Village's surveillance camera network, police officers also will have a bird's-eye view of the scene before they arrive."

According to ShotSpotter's senior vice president, Gregg Rowland, from a manpower, fiscal and public safety stand point, the integration of the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System with wireless networks and surveillance cameras continues to makes sense.

"We've had cities report as much as a 35% drop in violent crime in areas where our system is installed. Combine that with the crime reduction value of a video surveillance system that is activated and directed by our system and cities will benefit from a sizeable reduction in violent crime in any areas where the two technologies are deployed together."

"This impressive technology will give our police department another important advantage and tool in protecting and serving our residents," said Bellwood mayor Frank A. Pasquale. "This forward-looking application of technology will go a long way in making Bellwood even safer than it already is."

The ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System is the newest addition to Bellwood's multi-faceted wireless plan, which uses a Proxim Wireless Wi-Fi mesh network and Current Technologies Corporation camera surveillance technology to increase the ability of Bellwood police to simultaneously monitor multiple areas for crime. According to a press release by the Bellwood Police Department, a 15% reduction in over-all crime can be attributed to the deterrence effect of their camera system.