The use of audio sensors designed to more quickly and accurately to gunshots is already proving to be an important new tool in the fight against gun violence.
On the first night the system was fully deployed in Denver this week, authorities were able to detect shots fired, on outstanding warrants, and seize a handgun.
However, the fact that a government device may be monitoring audio raises questions about exactly what is being recorded and how it is used.
Denver Police Department Capt. Steven Carter says the system, called ShotSpotter, is not a listening device that can be used to provide police with recordings of ordinary conversations on the street.
On its , the company says this about the system’s sensors: “They do not have the ability to overhear normal speech or conversations on public streets.”
However, ShotSpotter also says there have been “three extremely rare ‘edge cases’ (3 out of approximately 3 million incidents detected in the past 10 years), in which a human voice yelling loudly in a public street at the scene of a gunfire incident was overheard for a very brief period (a few seconds).”
That acknowledgment underscores why there should have been a broader public conversation about the use of this tool in Denver before it was adopted.
But the ShotSpotter does sound unobjectionable, assuming it works as advertised.
Most of us are used to the idea of cameras recording action in public places, but the thought that someone or something could be listening — even in the limited way described by the company — is a far newer concept.
Technology has allowed for great strides in policing, but can sometimes raise questions of privacy and civil liberties. So long as it is literally impossible for ShotSpotter to listen in on normal human conversation, then it may well prove to be another major advance in crime-fighting.
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