District Adding Gunfire Sensors

"A lot of these folks who have pistols and guns routinely fire them for no reason at all," said Assistant Chief Winston Robinson, who oversees investigations. "You'd be surprised how it becomes a habit. ShotSpotter picks it up and documents where it's coming from."

Since police began using the technology, Robinson said, officers get to scenes faster. Homicide investigations are more precise, because detectives know with certainty what time the gunfire rang out and how many shots were fired, he said. ShotSpotter locates gunfire within 10 feet.

Several police officials noted that ShotSpotter played a critical role in the investigation of the shooting last September of DeOnté Rawlings, the 14-year-old who was killed after a confrontation with two off-duty officers in Southeast Washington. ShotSpotter determined that the first shot that night did not come from the police officers. Although the technology could not confirm police accounts that DeOnté fired a gun, it contributed to a finding that cleared the officers of any criminal wrongdoing.

ShotSpotter was brought to the District by the FBI as a pilot project and initially was installed across 2 1/2 square miles of the 7th Police District. The $2 million cost was picked up by federal authorities. D.C. police took over the initiative in December, allocating $1.6 million in police funds to upgrade and expand the technology.

The cost of tying ShotSpotter into the cameras has not been determined, officials said.

The expansion covers parts of six of the city's seven police districts. The exception is the 2nd District, which includes areas such as Georgetown, Woodley Park and Palisades that rarely have gunfire.

In determining where to put the technology, police looked at crime statistics and talked with residents and council members. Residents in the Shaw area, for example, have been pushing to get ShotSpotter for more than a year; it now will be in place by July 15, officials said.

"We would have liked to have had it last summer when we had an increase in shootings so we could have nipped it in the bud," said community activist Alex Padro, who has lived there for 11 years.

"This is something that could have been rolled out a long time ago," Padro said. "Police need to be more proactive and less reactive."