Category Archives: Interviews and Features

Like many large cities in the U.S., Detroit’s gun violence rate has fluctuated since the COVID-19 pandemic and the unrest after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The city’s murder rate increased nearly 20% that year, meaning the city had the second-highest violent crime rate after Memphis, Tennessee, among cities with more than 100,000 residents…

“Gun violence did not reduce in either (Kansas City or Chicago) following the introduction of ShotSpotter, and shootings were not anymore likely to be solved in either city,” Northeastern professor Eric Piza says. ShotSpotter gunfire detection technology has delivered as promised in terms of enabling police to quickly detect and respond to gunshots in twoContinue reading “NGN: ShotSpotter improves detection and response to gunfire, but doesn’t reduce crime, Northeastern research finds”

ShotSpotter software might help police get to shootings faster and collect more evidence, but a new study suggests that it doesn’t help reduce crime or shootings, although very few jurisdictions even try to measure its success. Many cities looking for a solution to the problem of the proliferation of guns and shootings opt to acquireContinue reading “Government Technology: Study- ShotSpotter Doesn’t Reduce Crime or Shootings”

Tekniken med skottmikrofoner finns sedan tidigare i USA – men det har ifrågasatts hur väl den fungerar trots att larmen når polisen i genomsnitt 1,5 minuter tidigare. – Offren för vapenvåld minskade inte i varken Kansas City eller Chicago, dessutom löstes inte skjutningar i högre grad, säger forskaren Eric Piza.

Research shows the technology doesn’t reduce shootings or increase clearance rates, but it may have other benefits. On February 13, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that the city’s ShotSpotter gunshot detection system would be discontinued, with a phasing out of the technology set to begin this September. ShotSpotter is the global leader in gunshot detection technologyContinue reading “Vital City: Learning about ShotSpotter — and Gun Violence — from Chicago”

As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, Dr. Eric L. Piza stumbled upon an opportunity that would shape his career trajectory: a flier for research assistant positions at the Police Institute, under the guidance of Professor George Kelling. Little did he know that this experience would discover a world of collaborative problem-solving, crime analysis, and research thatContinue reading “Springer Nature: Breaking barriers: Dr. Eric L. Piza’s evolution from an undergrad researcher to open access crusader in crime analysis and policing”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —A newly released study found that the gunfire detection system the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department has been using since 2012 hasn’t reduced any violent crime categories. The study published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology looked at data both before and after the technology was installed. “Also, shootings that occurred withinContinue reading “KMBC News 9: New Study Questions Effectiveness of Gunfire Detection System Used by KCPD”

The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners recently approved spending $200,000 for another year of ShotSpotter, a surveillance technology, despite a new study that says it doesn’t achieve the city’s public safety goals.An audio surveillance technology the Kansas City Police Department uses to detect the location of gunshots has failed to reduce violent crime, aContinue reading “NPR Kansas City: ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection System Fails to Reduce Violent Crime in Kansas City, Study Says”

“We did find that verbal antagonism was actually associated with a lower likelihood of force occurring during a police-civilian interaction.” While the majority of police-civilian interactions resolve peacefully, a small number of situations end with use of force as police respond to subject resistance. In this episode of Policing Matters, host Jim Dudley speaks withContinue reading “Police1: Dr. Eric Piza on using bodycam video to determine use of force predictors”