DAYTON — The City of Dayton said it will not sign a new contract with ShotSpotter.
The technology is used to help police pin-point where there is gunfire in parts of the city.
The city said several reasons led to this decision. Because of changing state laws, it is not clear how the department will handle some future gun related cases. In Ohio, people can carry a gun without a permit and it is not illegal to fire a gun within city limits under certain conditions.
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The city also said it is hard to know how effective ShotSpotter is on it’s own.
“Due to the amount of work invested in the ShotSpotter area to reduce violent crime, it is challenging to develop statistics showing how effective ShotSpotter would be on its own,” the city said in a statement. “While the ShotSpotter area shows a more considerable decrease in violent crimes, this cannot be solely attributed to ShotSpotter’s effectiveness, as it was only one of the many tools used to combat violent crime in this area during this timeframe.”
As far as cost, the city said it would have to pay $615,000 for a new three-year contract.
The city said the decision to end its use of ShotSpotter was not taken lightly.
“The Dayton Police Department will continue focusing on gun crimes and moving forward with beat officers assigned to all areas of the city,” the city said.
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