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 criminologyContinue reading “Eric Piza named Lipman Family Chair in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice”
Tag Archives: 2024
Dozens of Cities Are Paying for Gunshot Detection Tech They May Not Need
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.
AI gunshot detection technology at UMD raises concerns about false positives, policing
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 inContinue reading “AI gunshot detection technology at UMD raises concerns about false positives, policing”
Profs on Cops: Closed-Circuit TV Systems
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.
SVT Nyheter (Swedish): American criminologist on Malmö visit skeptical of visitation zones
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.
Commonwealth Beacon: ShotSpotter Honchos Fire Back
The company that sells ShotSpotter, the acoustic gunshot detection technology that has come under attack recently from everyone from Boston city councilors to the state’s two US senators and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, is firing back. And it brought in the big guns to do so. Holding forth in an interview last week at the BostonContinue reading “Commonwealth Beacon: ShotSpotter Honchos Fire Back”
Undark: In Some Cities Second Thoughts About Gunshot Detection Sensors
Recent studies on technology that alerts police to gunfire have found it has little impact on shootings or prosecutions. More than seven years ago, when the city of Chicago began its broad deployment of acoustic technology to identify and locate gunfire in high-crime neighborhoods, supporters promoted the system — which uses acoustic sensors, GPS software, andContinue reading “Undark: In Some Cities Second Thoughts About Gunshot Detection Sensors”
Chicago Justice Project: What does the science say about ShotSpotter?
In a first-of-its-kind independent analysis of the effectiveness of ShotSpotter, the science says the technology does not lead to more arrests and convictions for gun crimes and does not reduce these crimes in the areas where it is deployed. The study examined the impact of ShotSpotter in Chicago and Kansas City. To understand the scienceContinue reading “Chicago Justice Project: What does the science say about ShotSpotter?”
The Conversation: I studied ShotSpotter in Chicago and Kansas City – here’s what people in Detroit and the more than 167 other cities and towns using this technology should know
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…
Wired: The Mystery of AI Gunshot-Detection Accuracy Is Finally Unraveling
How accurate are gunshot detection systems, really? For years, it’s been a secret, but new reports from San Jose and NYC show these systems have operated well below their advertised accuracy rates. Liz González’s neighborhood in East San Jose can be loud. Some of her neighbors apparently want the whole block to hear their cars,Continue reading “Wired: The Mystery of AI Gunshot-Detection Accuracy Is Finally Unraveling”
Eric L. Piza, Ph.D. 