NEWARK, Calif. – March 20, 2019 – ShotSpotter, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSTI), the leader in gunshot detection solutions that help law enforcement officials identify, locate and deter gun violence, today announced the results of its annual ShotSpotter National Gunfire Index (NGI) for 2018 – the most comprehensive study to capture, analyze, and report on gunfire incidents annually. The study is based on a subset of 88 U.S. cities using ShotSpotter technology during 2018 and 62 of those cities comparing use year-over-year during the same time period from 2017 to 2018.
ShotSpotter detected more than 107,000 total gunfire incidents across the U. S. in 2018. In cities using ShotSpotter for both 2017 and 2018, the company identified an overall 7.6 percent reduction in gunfire events, from 49,324 incidents in 2017 to 45,599 events for 2018. Cities with significant declines in gunfire incidents for 2018 include Savannah, GA (-30.1 percent), Fresno, Calif. (-28.9 percent) and Milwaukee, WI (-24.3 percent).
“Thanks to a comprehensive program of aggressive gun crime strategies, including ShotSpotter, we are proud to have achieved more than a twenty percent reduction in gun violence in 2018,” said Alfonso Morales, Milwaukee Police Chief. “By pairing innovative technology with proactive policing policies, our entire community is safer and more engaged with law enforcement.”
The average gunshot incident rate per square mile for 2018 was highest in the midwest region of the U.S. with 236, closely followed by the south with 218, and then dropping to 109 for the western region and 75 for the northeast. The average incident rate per square mile declined from 2017 to 2018 in the midwest by 13.8 percent, in the northeast by 5.1 percent and the south by 3.6 percent. The only increase was in the western region where the rate moved up slightly by 3.5 percent.
ShotSpotter has amassed the world’s largest audio database of gunshots, and sounds that are similar to gunshots, with more than 12 million incidents reviewed. This provides the company with a unique perspective on gun violence in America and continually trains a machine-learning based classification system that steadily improves over time.
“ShotSpotter is in a unique position to track, analyze and share this comprehensive gunfire incident data to help cities across the country in their efforts to prevent and deter gun violence,” said Ralph Clark, president and CEO of ShotSpotter.
Other key findings include:
ShotSpotter maintains a 24/7 Incident Review Center staffed by acoustic experts to quickly analyze and confirm that acoustic events are gunfire, append helpful tactical information for police such as “multiple shooters” or “automatic weapons”, and then immediately send an alert to local law enforcement.
- Busiest day in 2018 for ShotSpotter Incident Review Center – August 26 with 437 incidents detected.
- Busiest hour in 2018 for ShotSpotter Incident Review Center – December 26 from midnight to 1:00 am with 62 incidents detected.
The trend of heaviest gunfire activity occurring on weekend nights continued in 2018.
- Busiest night of week - Saturday with an average rate of 337 incidents.
- Second busiest night of the week - Friday with an average rate of 285 incidents.
- Third busiest night of the week - Sunday with an average rate of 246 incidents.
Gunfire incidents in 2018, as tracked by hour of the day, followed a similar pattern to 2017:
· Most active period was between 10pm and midnight.
· Single most active hour was 11pm to midnight.
· The lowest number of gunfire incidents by hour was between the hours of 6am and 10am.
The average rounds per gunfire incident were very similar across the different regions of the U.S. for 2018:
- Southern region – 3.8
- Midwest region – 3.7
- Western region – 3.7
- Northeastern region – 3.2
