The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office wants to put gunshot-detecting technology in the East Mountains, but they’re not sure yet where they’ll be placing the equipment.
“You guys call us and say, ‘I’m hearing shots fired around my house,” said Sheriff John Allen. “Our deputies go out there and what do we find? Nothing, because it’s such a large square mileage.”
It was one topic at an East Mountain town hall meeting about crime on May 30 hosted by Allen and Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman at the Los Vecinos Community Center.
Allen said residents help BCSO figure out where to place this technology by calling in incidents of gunfire.
“I just don’t want to aimlessly place technology out there.”
The gunshot technology is called Raven. In addition to the gunshot technology, the department plans to contract with a company called Flock Safety for license plate readers.
“Flock Safety and Raven are utilized alongside an LPR, (license plate reader), camera also purchased through Flock, so we can get LPRs at the time of gunshots assisting us in locating an offender quicker,” Jayme Fuller-Gonzales, spokesperson for BCSO said.
According to Fuller-Gonzales, the Flock Safety contract will cost $18,000 the first year and $15,000 reoccurring each year.
When deputies currently go to the area for calls about fired shots, Allen said they try to find it in video that may be available, canvas the area for suspects and can keep a deputy parked in the area to look for a suspect.
Allen said the technology is similar to the Albuquerque Police Department’s ShotSpotter technology.
At a press conference in May, Allen said the department would be launching a real-time crime center to help gather information about crime reports, 911 calls and all information in real-time that deputies will have access to.
Deputies will have computers installed in their cars giving them access to real-time crime information as it’s coming in and possibly send drones ahead of deputies when calls come in.
Allen said he hopes to have the technology in place by October.