Lipman Family Professor | School of Criminology & Criminal Justice | Northeastern University
The prank sounds harmless enough: High school students wait until dark, pour soap into a public fountain and laugh as it fills up with bubbles. But when it happened 17 times in one year — ruining several $30,000 pumps and requiring a two-day cleanup process each time — city officials in Opelika, Ala., began searching for a tech solution to put an end to the hijinks.
In an effort to curb gun crime, Tacoma announced last year that it was turning to a tool called ShotSpotter. ShotSpotter is a form of Gun Detection Technology (GDT), which uses a series of acoustic microphone sensors to track loud bangs, booms, and pops in a designated area. Once those “dynamic events” are triggered, a human classifier verifies the sound was a gunshot and alerts local police. The entire process happens within 60 seconds or less.
To learn more, Soundside spoke with a group of community advocates who’ve spoken against the technology at ShotSpotter information sessions in Tacoma; Alfred Lewers Jr., the Senior Director of Trauma Response and Community Engagement at SoundThinking; and Eric Piza, a professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston who’s studied the use of ShotSpotter in major cities like Chicago and Kansas City.
Eric Piza, a professor of criminology and criminal justice, has been named the new Lipman Family Chair in Northeastern University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Established in 1999 by Ira Lipman, the founder of private security company Guardsmark, the Lipman Family Chair supports the work of Northeastern academics whose research and instruction in criminology and criminal justice has real-world impacts.
A new analysis by The Trace identified cities across the country that are using ShotSpotter despite averaging fewer than one shooting a month in which someone was killed or injured.
UMPD has spent more than $135,000 on AI gunshot detection with payments spanning 2017 to 2023, despite concerns about the technology’s accuracy, according to records obtained by The Diamondback.
University of Maryland Police use ShotSpotter — an artificial intelligence-based acoustic gunshot detection system owned by the technology company SoundThinking — to alert campus police in the event of an active shooter. But experts and activists urge caution when deploying this technology due to concerns about false positives and public safety.
Most local law enforcement agencies have their own closed-circuit TV systems, aimed at curbing crime and apprehending criminals. According to Eric Piza, Professor of Criminology at Northeastern University, who has studied this in Newark, N.J. and elsewhere, CCTV systems can reduce both violent crime and property crime if linked to strategic staff deployment.
Joel Miller, Sam Guthrie, and Eric L. Piza (2024)
Crime & Delinquency
Abstract
This study explores the correlates of use of force (UOF) in police responses to calls for service (CFS), drawing on situational, community, and organizational perspectives. Linear probability models were used to analyze CFS and UOF records for Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) from October 2014 to July 2021, along with sociodemographic and crime data aggregated to census tracts. The type of CFS, as well as quicker response times and police-initiated actions, were associated with UOF. Broader situational variables (including nighttime, alcohol consumption, and high activity periods), tract-level crime and sociodemographic characteristics, and year showed little statistical association. The study finds modest evidence of organizational influences on UOF outcomes, in the form of variation by police district.
Det var fullsatt när amerikanska kameraforskaren Eric Piza bjöds in att föreläsa på Malmö universitet om teknikens möjligheter att säkra tryggheten på allmänna platser.
Det var en fullsatt föreläsningssal på Malmö universitet som ville ta del av forskaren Eric Pizas presentation om teknikens roll att säkra tryggheten på allmänna platser. Värd för inbjudan var kriminologen Manne Gerell på Malmö universitet.
Drönare som är startklara på taken och visitationszoner är bara ett par exempel på hur polisen försöker modernisera sina metoder i Sverige. Eric Piza, professor i kriminologi på Northeastern University, är skeptisk till metoderna.
Eric Piza discusses his research, finding ShotSpotter does not increase case clearance rates or decrease crime. Tom Chittum, former COO of ATF and current Vice President from SoundThinking, drops by to respond.
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