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Cleveland City Council to vote on gunfire detection technology to help police fight crime

It's a technology that would allow police to pinpoint gunshots within a minute without ever getting a 911 call.

A new way to help police fight crime could soon come to Cleveland.

City Council will vote on a gunfire detection technology that would allow police to pinpoint shots within a minute without ever getting a 911 call. The technology, which would be similar to what is known as ShotSpotter, uses sensors mounted on light poles.

The system triangulates sound. It could let police know what type of gun is used in a shooting, while also giving them a precise location of where it happened.

If approved, it would be used in the Cleveland Police Department’s Fourth District in the areas of East 105th Street and St. Clair Avenue and East 131st St. near Union Ave. It will be a two-year pilot program and will cost around $500,000, which will be paid for by a Cleveland Police Foundation grant.

Ward 6 Councilman Blaine Griffin says the city’s fourth police district is the most violent in the city. Griffin, who is the councilman of some of the neighborhoods in that district, believes the technology can only help an in area where he says it is certainly needed.

"A lot of my colleagues and myself have been advocating for this to come to our city for a long time," Griffin said. "We think this is another tool in our tool box to really try to address violent crime and gun crime in our city."

Griffin says community members have raised concerns about privacy in regards to the technology. He says city council amended the law, adding once the vendor is selected, a representative will have to attend a safety committee meeting to address concerns such as how the data will be stored.

"It’s important for us to use all of the tools available to us to deal with 21st century crime," he said

City Council will vote on the issue Wednesday.

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