Elmwood Park police officers will soon be equipped with ShotSpotter

ELMWOOD PARK, Ill. – In the coming weeks, police in the Village of Elmwood Park will be equipped with ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology.

A news release said Elmwood Park is believed to be one of the first Chicago suburbs to implement the crime fighting tool.

ShotSpotter helps police quickly respond to gunfire even when no 911 calls are made. It uses “a complex array of acoustic sensors which use triangulation to not only detect gunfire, but locate where it came from.” The automatic reporting may be important when a victim needs help or evidence needs to be collected.

Algorithms within ShotSpotter are also effective at differentiating legitimate incidents from false activations of the system, such as activations caused by fireworks or other loud noises. Officials added that between 2019 and 2021, ShotSpotter had a 97% aggregate accuracy rate.

According to ShotSpotter, only 12% of gunfire is reported to police, but that number jumps to 90% of gunfire being reported when communities use ShotSpotter’s technology. Officials said shell casings are also more likely to be recovered from shooting scenes and ShotSpotter also lets authorities find crime scenes more easily.

“We’re always looking to improve our public safety toolbox,” said Elmwood Park Police Chief Andrew Hock. “While gunfire is not commonplace in Elmwood Park, we’re constantly looking to reduce crime or the potential for crime any way we can.”

The Chicago Police Department has shared their ShotSpotter information with Elmwood Park police for several years now. The municipalities border each other along Harlem Avenue and Belmont Avenue, and Hock added his police department will share its information with neighboring municipalities as well.

“Elmwood Park is a very safe and welcoming place to live,” said Elmwood Park President Angelo “Skip” Saviano. “And one of the reasons is because we have a proactive police department that uses all of the resources available to them to best deter and respond to crime.”

Village officials and police have also utilized other innovative programs over the last few years, including a partnership with residents to help them buy home security cameras that can be enrolled in a database. The village also helped pay for the cost of installing catalytic converter alarms on residents’ cars while also setting up a network of cameras along Harlem and North Avenues.

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