Gunfire Down 26 Percent in Kansas City Areas Covered by ShotSpotter Following Transit-Police Partnership

Newly released data from the makers of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system indicates that gunfire has decreased significantly in Kansas City’s urban core over the last year.

The ShotSpotter system covers 3.55 square miles in Kansas City near the Troost MAX bus line. In comparing the first half of 2013 to the first half of 2014, gunfire incidents in those areas fell by 25.9 percent. That’s 55 fewer incidents.

That keeps with the trend in 31 other cities across the United States and Caribbean that ShotSpotter serves: those cities averaged 25.9 percent fewer gunfire incidents, as well.

The ShotSpotter system went live in Kansas City in October 2012. It is a partnership between the Kansas City Missouri Police Department and Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA), with federal funding for the project secured by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

The funds became available when KCATA’s Troost MAX Green Line was completed under budget. KCATA was the lead agency in the planning and procurement of the ShotSpotter service for the KCPD. This is an effort to support Kansas City’s proactive policing strategies and deployments, in its ongoing commitment to improve the safety, security and quality of life for its residents by ridding the city of gun crime and gun violence.

“We have implemented a number of practices to reduce violent crime in Kansas City, including ShotSpotter,” Chief Darryl Forté said. “The reduction in gunfire in some of our hardest-hit neighborhoods is another indication that what we and other segments of the community are doing is making a real difference.”

Within the coverage area, the system identifies the address of gunshots, the number of shots fired, the number of weapons used, and all within a few feet of the actual shots. Since its implementation, ShotSpotter has alerted Kansas City Police to 2,738 confirmed gunfire incidents, including 831 so far in 2014.

“With immediate information and situational awareness, police departments can radically speed up their response to gunfire incidents – which links directly to this decrease in gun incidents — while keeping officers safer and more effective,” said Ralph A. Clark, president and CEO of SST Inc., the maker of ShotSpotter.