WORCESTER After hearing a raft of concerns from the public about a planned expansion of the Police Department s ShotSpotter program, the City Council voted Tuesday to split the item to give new technology included with the upgrade a more public airing.
Councilors overwhelmingly supported an expansion of existing ShotSpotter technology, which detects gunshots and leads police to their source. The program has been in use across six square miles of the city for the past seven years.
But along with many residents who called into the virtual meeting, several councilors balked at the proposed deal with ShotSpotter that includes expansion of the existing system s range and a one-year subscription to ShotSpotter Connect, an automated technology that would use police data-driven crime forecasting to inform decisions about where to place officers to try to deter crime.