Nasdaq-listed precision policing technology solutions company ShotSpotter has announced that a new phase of a ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection project has been rolled out in Hanover Park, in Cape Town.

ShotSpotter will assist the City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement Advancement Project and metro police, as well as South African Police Service (SAPS) to respond more effectively to escalating gunshot incidents in these hotspot areas, where innocent victims have been caught in the crossfire on a regular basis, the company says.

ShotSpotter technology has been deployed in a 9 km² area in Hanover Park and is being used in conjunction with closed-circuit television cameras and other aerial surveillance technologies to help law enforcement identify shooters.

This is expected to lead to more successful arrests and prosecutions.

Since going live in the first week of December, ShotSpotter has detected 68 gunfire incidents and 224 total shots fired in the coverage area. The information gathered has enabled law enforcement to identify high-risk areas and times of day in Hanover Park where crime operations to retrieve illegal firearms will be targeted, the company points out.

“We are pleased to be redeployed in Hanover Park and look forward to assisting the City of Cape Town and its metro police department in collaboration with SAPS in responding more effectively to gun violence in this and other vulnerable communities,” says ShotSpotter president and CEO Ralph Clark.

“We hope to continue expanding our engagement with SAPS and other South African municipalities seeking to improve public safety through more effective and holistic response to gangsters with guns,” he adds.

“The City of Cape Town is doing more to increase safety in communities impacted by high crime levels and making use of innovative technology like ShotSpotter greatly assists our officers to provide quicker response times and arrest more criminals,” Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis comments.

“This project emphasises our targeted focus on innovation and the benefit of intelligence-driven crime fighting for residents. Investments in cutting-edge technology will help make residents feels safer in Cape Town, and more innovative projects are planned for 2023,” he adds.

An initial phase of the project, which ran from 2016 to 2019, resulted in a significant reduction in the number of shooting incidents and the number of shots fired per incident in the two areas where the ShotSpotter technology was deployed – Hanover Park and Manenberg.

The recovery of illegal guns also increased five-fold.