The devices are perched on buildings and telephone poles, use acoustic sensors to triangulate the approximate location of a gunshot and notify local police. A company IMPD was evaulating, ShotSpotter, has received increased media scrutiny at both the local and national level.
The department is poised to invest $9 million in COVID-19 recovery funds into cameras and other technology. Some critics are raising privacy and efficacy concerns; others say the city hasn’t adopted the new techniques quickly enough.