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In the few years since the Suffolk Police Department first installed its gunshot detection system, Deputy Chief of Administration Jesse Epperson said they have seen “huge dividends” from both an investigative and public safety point of view.

The Flock Safety Raven devices were initially installed in 2022 after being approved by the City Council. Epperson said there is currently one square mile of devices. He said the number of devices is measured in square miles, and one square mile typically consists of 65 devices, but that can fluctuate based on the geography of the land.

They can detect if there’s been one or more gunshots and are able to locate an address where the gunshot came from, within 90 feet. Once a gunshot is detected, the device sends out an alert directly to officers within 60 seconds. This allows them to shorten response time by bypassing dispatch.

Epperson said SPD has experienced success with very accurate alerts from the devices. 

“We’ve had situations where we’ve had a violent crime occur, and the officers have gotten a gunshot detection call, and they’re already heading that way before the 911 call comes in,” Epperson said. “And those few seconds are able to get the officer there quicker where they’re able to perform life saving measures on someone that may have been shot.”

The devices work strictly off of audio, so there is no photo or video surveillance being captured, Epperson said. They work similarly to ShotSpotter, by triangulating sound to pinpoint where a gunshot came from.

With one square mile of devices right now, Epperson said SPD is in the middle of expanding the system to three square miles with the help of local funds. He said one square mile of devices costs approximately $35,000.

When deciding where to put the devices, Epperson said they analyze recent years’ data to see where gunshots are most often reported and where violent crime is the highest.