The City of Cape Town is installing gunshot detection targeting specific gang violence hotspots in consultation with the South African Police Services (SAPS).
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This comes in the wake of a successful pilot programme in Hanover Park and Manenberg for just over three years, which resulted in a significant reduction in shooting incidents and the number of shots per incident and an increased recovery of illegal guns in these areas.
The technology, known as SoundThinking (formerly ShotSpotter), identifies the sound of gunfire, giving law enforcement authorities the ability to immediately pinpoint territorial battles erupting between rival gangs.
Violence flare-ups would previously only become known to SAPS once the body count began rising.
However, now the City is able to gain strategic information in real-time to share with police, enabling authorities to concentrate resources on stabilising an area a lot faster.
Besides alerts to specific gunfire incidents, the data enables more strategic deployment of policing resources in general by identifying hotspots.
Gunshots can be pinpointed by street, block, day and time of day, generating heat maps and measurable data on gun violence trends over time. Automatic gunfire can also be specifically detected, upping the chances of taking these deadly weapons off the streets. The City is integrating gunfire audio alerts into its digital rapid-response system, known as EPIC, to coordinate multi-agency responses to violent incidents together with SAPS.
‘Acoustic gunshot detection is part of the City’s vision for tech-led policing to make Cape Town safer. This includes a suite of interventions, from aerial surveillance, to drones, CCTV, bodycams, dashcams and more, backed by a R860 million investment in safety tech over three years,’ explained Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
‘By deploying gunshot detection and drones to gang hotspots, we aim to see rapid, tech-led deployment of police to gun violence flare-ups. Tech-led policing provides a crucial strategic advantage as we add more boots on the ground, having already deployed 1 200 new officers to crime hotspots in vulnerable communities through the LEAP programme together with the Western Cape Government.’
‘For best results, we need a well-resourced SAPS to stage rapid joint responses with us, and well-run prosecutions to gain convictions. Our officers are already taking guns and drugs off the streets on a daily basis.’
‘But with more policing powers, particularly to investigate crime, we can do even more to help SAPS by building prosecution-ready case dockets.’
‘President Ramaphosa and the Justice Minister can devolve these powers by way of a declaration expanding the peace officer powers of our well-trained municipal law enforcement under the Criminal Procedure Act.’
Over time, the City is phasing in aerial surveillance, including drones, as an additional ‘eye in the sky’ to the audio alerts provided by the gunshot detection technology. This tech-led response to gang violence flare-ups offers several advantages to authorities.’
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Picture: Supplied / CoCT