The City of Fort Worth may add new gunshot detection technology to streetlights.
The smart streetlight technology would reportedly connect auditory sensors with the cameras already installed throughout the city to help police respond more quickly when citizens report shots fired, reported FOX 4.
The Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) delivered a report on the project to City officials during a Tuesday City Council work session.
“What we’re doing is trying to use this technology to help us help the communities that need it the most,” said FWPD Sergeant Jason Spencer, per FOX 4.
The audio-detecting technology would be incorporated into existing streetlights throughout Fort Worth. The city has about 69,000 streetlights in total.
“This would give us a more instantaneous notification,” said Sgt. Spencer, per FOX 4. “If that detection device hears a gunshot, it lets us know, then gets tied into any cameras in the area or license plate readers in the area. So we might be able to get that lead more or less immediately.”
However, Council Member Chris Nettles expressed some reservations as similar installations in other cities have been criticized for potentially inflaming tensions between police and neighborhoods with high crime rates.
“One of the questions I have is: How do we discover these areas,” he asked, per FOX 4. “[Was] there a conversation with council members or did you just use your crime radar to figure out where you want to pilot these programs?”
Deputy Chief David Carabajal replied, “This is our preliminary study and we’re always open to more suggestions as well.”
“But preliminarily they looked at where is the most gun violence and in combination where is the most population density, also where is the most technology existing to get the most bang for our buck,” he said.
The complete May 2 report on smart street lights and gunshot detection from Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke can be found here.
Some opponents to municipal use of this type of gunshot detection technology have argued that it infringes on the privacy of citizens.
“Placing live microphones in public places raises significant privacy concerns,” wrote Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the ACLU, while discussing similar initiatives in Chicago.
Stanley referenced a report from the City of Chicago’s Inspector General which questioned the “operational value” of the technology and, in some cases, increased the use of stop-and-frisk tactics by law enforcement.
“Smart city initiatives,” including streetlight security technology, are also being worked on by the Dallas City Council, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
City staff are working with software company Ubicquia to incorporate its technology into Dallas’ existing infrastructure.
Dallas Public Works Program Administrator Jacob McCarroll told council members in March that these “smart city infrastructure devices” are equipped with 4K cameras with artificial intelligence processing that can detect gunshots.
At the time of that update, the City of Dallas had installed these devices in the Red Cloud neighborhood, at Richmond Avenue, and in Tietze Park.