Many of you heard the barrage of fireworks being set off over the last few weeks.
Columbus police were listening closely with the help from ShotSpotter.
“We had in excess of 2000 different types of alerts on July 4,” Columbus Police Deputy Chief Richard Bash said.
While most of the pops heard were fireworks on the fourth, there were gunshots picked up as well.
The ShotSpotter technology was first put into the Hilltop in February 2019. It was soon after added in the Linden neighborhood and a southside neighborhood.
It gives police great detail about shots were fired and can differentiate between fireworks.
“I think it's amazingly good. They have the audio scientist in California that listen to the sounds to make sure we are not going on false positives,” Bash said.
Bash says they will take the information about where those celebratory gunshots were fired and saturate those areas for New Year's Eve to prevent anyone from getting hit by one of those shots.
“Bullets don't know the identification of anyone as they are flying. If you shoot indiscriminately, you will hit anybody, whether they are a small child or an elderly person. More than likely not the person you are aiming for,” he explained.
Bash argues not just on holidays, but every day, ShotSpotter helps police get illegal guns off Columbus streets.
“As a big picture, when it comes to violent crime using ShotSpotter, it allows us, I believe to get more guns off the streets by connecting guns to crimes in areas, identifying people with those firearms,” Bash said.
He adds, even with the technology police still need the community's help.
“The community has to be part of this process. When we knock on your door the next day about what you heard and saw, you have to be part of that process or we can't do our jobs effectively,” Bash said.
Bash is asking the city council for $600,000 to expand the program further into the current neighborhoods, and add more east side areas.