The Elkhart Police Department is rolling out a tool they say will help officers respond more quickly to shootings.
The new system, called Raven, uses numerous small microphones across a one-square mile area of the city to pinpoint where gunfire is coming from. The sounds are analyzed in seconds by AI software that then alerts officers much faster than 911 calls come in.
And when it comes to shootings, Elkhart police spokeswoman Jessica McBrier says seconds can make a world of difference.
“The sooner you can get the investigation going, the better. For preservation of evidence, locating witnesses. Most importantly rendering aid. All of that is of the essence, time-wise," she said.
McBrier and others in law enforcement say gunshot technology is useful because residents don't always call 911 when shots are fired out of fear or a number of other reasons. And when people do call in, they often don't know exactly where the shots came from, leaving responding officers to take valuable seconds to figure it out.
Raven also integrates with the department’s license plate reader cameras made by Flock and is free for the first year. If the city keeps the system at its current scale for 2025, the cost would be $50,000, McBrier said.
Elkhart police data shows there have been 145 incidents of shots being fired in the city this year. Through the same date in 2022, that number was two less at 143.
For all of 2022, the department reports:
-159 incidents of shots fired, 41 criminal shootings, nine shooting deaths
In 2021, there were:
-147 incidents, 38 criminal shootings, five shooting deaths.
Those numbers do not include accidental shootings or suicides.
South Bend police have utilized gunshot detection technology since 2014 and have expanded its use in the years since. Ashley O'Chap, a spokeswoman for South Bend police, said the technology gets better each year and that the technology "has been invaluable to us."
