Council president proposing Shotspotter system pilot in Philly
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City Council President Darrell Clarke (Tom MacDonald/WHYY)
The President of Philadelphia City Council wants to employ some new technology to help cut the number of shootings in the city.
Council President Darrell Clarke says he wants to employ the ShotSpotter system that uses microphones to direct cameras to the area of a shooting.
“When it hears a sound it identifies it as a gunshot, it triangulates the cameras and the device towards the gunshot,” Clarke said. “The good thing is it gives you real time information on shootings.”
Clarke wants a hearing quickly so a pilot program version of the system could be incorporated into the next Philadelphia budget.
“I think the 22nd police district would be a good place to test this,” he said.
The 22nd is where officer Robert Wilson was killed earlier this month, trying to break up a video game store robbery.
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