‘Shot Spotter costs us R32m’
The City’s gun detector comes under fire as report is tabled
IT HAS cost R32 million in total, detected 3 404 gunshots in 1 140 incidents in which 20 people were injured, but only nine people have been arrested. This is the City’s ShotSpotter, a system that detects and conveys the location of gunfire. Yet the City’s metro police believe its ShotSpotter is money well spent.
The metro police along with the Western Cape Police Ombudsman yesterday presented annual reports to the Western Cape Legislature’s standing committee on community safety.
ANC spokesperson on community safety Pat Lekker raised the issues of the ShotSpotter’s success and how many arrests had been made.
JP Smith, who was not present at the meeting, said the number of arrests was not enough and given more resources, more people would be arrested.
He also said the metro police recovered 77 firearms in the last seven months, 80% as a direct result of the ShotSpotter. “It is a pricey matter, but we could not find a local South African supplier. Our arrests could be much higher. We cannot always respond to the shots because we don’t always have the resources. It would help if police can respond to all the gunshots, but there are constraints on their side too. Our staff is also being drawn into protest violence and other incidents.” He said the metro police gang and drug unit is stationed in gang-plagued areas as far as it is possible.
“The system allows us to find the perpetrator. There are many community policing forums (CPFs) and police commanders asking me when the ShotSpotter system will be rolled out to other areas.” In a note to the City’s civilian oversight committee, the department reported that officers arrest suspects during searches.
“For the third quarter period there were some challenges in detecting incidents, with all issues reported and corrected during the time.
“During the quarter our patrollers collected several cartridges on scenes, after searching the location of reported gunfire detections, resulting in suspects being detained for profiling.
“These types of operations continued for the quarter and will form part of high visibility within the area, addressing the increasing volume of incidents in these suburbs,” the report read.
Kader Jacobs, chairperson of the Manenberg CPF, said: “The police’s shortage is always a problem. I have seen how the system works and it is doing very well. However, it cannot work optimally when we don’t have enough police officers to respond to all the shots being fired.”
The ShotSpotter was introduced three years ago and cost the City about R20m in the first two years. About R12m was budgeted for ShotSpotter this financial year.