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Friday, December 21, 2007

Dallas police to citizens: Gravity applies to bullets, too

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(Picture may not be an accurate representation of local schmucks)

(Picture may not be an accurate representation of local schmucks)

The Dallas Police Department would like to remind local morons citizens not to fire guns into the air in celebration this holiday season because, yes, what goes up must come down, and sometimes does so in a deadly way. Apparently there are an astounding amount of imbeciles irresponsible gunowners in the Dallas area, as police have reported more than 14,000 random gunfire incidents so far this year.

Source: Dallas City Hall


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Comments

Scott Doyle Verified

I bet a lot were in Plano, b/c they apparently win at hiding the bodies.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

eastside Anonymous

Thats right! Its time to hear the arsenal display of East Dallas :)

If you plan on being outside don't forget your helmets. I suggest any Army/Navy, or Sporting Good stores.

My two favorite places to hear gunfire are:

Buckner & John West - AK 47's, .45's and various shotguns.

Ross & Greenville - semi-automatics,revolvers and various assault rifle's

btw, To all other east sider's don't forget to bring your dog's in out of the noise & rain. I see more dogs running loose on NYE & the 4th of July then any other time of the year.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Michael Davis Verified

This is one of the reasons we're working to fund a gunshot-detection system. I'm sick of these morons.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Pavel Lishin Verified

Who's "we"?

I remember reading about that being implemented in another city, it was a pretty interesting concept.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Michael Davis Verified

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and I have made it a priority. It was part of his campaign agenda. I also wrote about it in the article I did for the D Magazine Dec '07 issue.

We need about 2.5 mil to get it started.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Clay213 Anonymous

A gunshot detection system?

You mean..

Like ears?

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Rick Yost Verified

Sometimes this society works backwards. $2.5mil to get 'started' with yet another example of human super-high-definition-intelligence. A system to detect what, for some unfortunates, may be the last things they experience. They could call it a $2.5mil corpse detector?

I thought addressing the symptom was deemed inefficient.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Michael Davis Verified

Clay has jokes.

Yes it will cost $2.5 mill to do a large portion of our council district. That should cover about a 11-12 square mile radius.

To get Dallas off of the top crime list, we have to ramp up our efforts. This is an example of using best practices from other cities to fight violent crime.

It has been shown in multiple cities to catch criminals within hours of its installation (Boston, Minneapolis, DC). In East Orange, NJ (one of the most violent cities in NJ), it reduced gun crime by 85% after its installation.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

littlekinder Anonymous

I always wondered what happened to all those bullets Hussein was firing in the air every five minutes... if only one had fallen back onto his head maybe we could have avoided an entire war!

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

What exactly does the system do, Mike D.? I'm with Yost and Clay on this one...seems kinda ridiculous. Does the system alert the nearest police vehicle, or is it more like a central station alarm?

I can see how it would help in areas listed, b/c gunshots are so common that nobody reports them...and it's a general policy to avoid communicating with the police altogether. Details, plars.

7 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

TinaBadina Anonymous

Gunshot detection system = unmarked police cars located at the hotspots

hotspots = fair park downtown dallas Buckner

step one sit in your unmarked car

step two I here a gunshot - I am an officer

step three I see a guy holding a gun step four I am in pursuit step five WHY IS THIS A @ TWO MILLION DOLLAR CONCEPT

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

TinaBadina Anonymous

What do you suppose the mentality of someone who shoots a gun up in the air for fun is

It's weird enough to see someone get enjoyment out of shooting at a duck or a squirrel, but it's even more peculiar to see someone fire up when nothing is there

It's sort of like watching a crackhead talking to a telephone pole

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

I can't explain why, but when Mike D. said "Clay has jokes." I laughed really hard irl. Tina's bump made me see it again, and it's still funny. Kudos to you, Mike D.

Still interested in how this thing is supposed to work, hope Mike sees this. And I'm really bored at work, so hopefully it's sooner than later. =)

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Michael Davis Verified

Tina,

Have you seen that we are quite short on the amount of police officers that we have...constantly running from call to call? We don't have enough officers to have them sit and wait for shots to be fired. In most areas of the City, that's the reality.

Scott,

The system does whatever you want. It can go straight to dispatch or to the officer in the area. Here's one of the companies that does it. The site also has a lot of news clips from cities that have the technology.

http://www.spotshotter.com/index.html

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

TinaBadina Anonymous

I figured that was coming Michael. It's just that, from the commom mans point of view, it seems like we never have officers around when we need them, but they are always around when we are 5 days late on an inspection sticker.

I have an idea you wouldn't be waiting for nothing if you sat over by Buckner Terrace around 12:01 New years, but I see your point.

You can't be everywhere at once, and I guess there is so much crime we don't know about, until we see it on the first 48 when we are watching A&E

So, we only know what we see, and that's only a fraction of the whole picture. I get it.

I like the new systems they have at 7-11 where the police monitor the stores, and can be heard over the innercoms The first time I heard that, I was impressed

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

TinaBadina Anonymous

I really think these shows on A&E, like the ones that portray so called "gangstus" really give some of these gangs too much credit for being intelligent

Anyone can pull the trigger of a gun - even a sweet innocent five year old twin

So, my point is, it's the stupid crimes, like shooting guns in the air, that are goin to lead you to the stupid criminals, who have been falsely portrayed by the media as being "intelligent"

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Clay213 Anonymous

I've got a couple extra Shure microphones laying around I could sell the city at a discount. I'll cut you a good deal for $1mil.

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

But do they triangulate, Clay?!

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Clay213 Anonymous

No but for the million bucks saved you could pay 20 cops 50 grand for a year.

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

TinaBadina Anonymous

Michael whatever works I'm all for it

I think you should get more people working in unmarked cars and undercover

that's all I really meant.

Clay - I can top that deal with my miracle voice recorder I got it for 9.99 and they threw in a miracle ear free

I shop with it at Kroger

"eggs, bread, and butter" IT REPEATS WHAT I SAY RIGHT BACK!!!!

I think they use to call it a tape recorder

6 months, 4 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

littlekinder Anonymous

I need one of those, Tina. To go with my dollar store reading glasses. Sadly, I'm totally serious.

Someone coughMikecough needs to flesh this out in a Pegasus article. I know you did a D mag article, but some of us are lazy or won't remember to buy a copy - that is unless we get a miracle voice recorder to take to the store..

Are the 14,000 "random gunfire incidents" of the shoot-in-the-air variety only? Or does that include gunfire that had an intended target?

6 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Peter Stawicki Verified

Gunshot detection systems in cities like Chicago and Detroit have been paired with city wide CCTV systems and have allowed a quick pinpoint of where the shots were fired from and in some cases have actually found a person or persons standing on the street with firearm in hand. The use of the CCTV systems allows the centralized viewing area to dispatch Police Cars, Transmit recorded and still images, and in the end apprehend people either in the act or soon after.

Obviously as mentioned above, this is a costly system and without more CCTV coverage in this city (We have under 20 PTZ Cameras downtown) to work hand in hand without that technology the officers would likely be following up blind leads.

A better use for the funding required would be more officers hired and out patrolling the streets. Second best use would be to increase the eyes on the street without the officers by installing more CCTV Camera in the Fair Park and Uptown areas where the most common occurances of violence happen in this city.

6 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

I'd just like to point out that ShotSpotter FAQ (the product Mike D. linked to) actually addresses the "should hire more police with those monies" points-of-view:

  • There is absolutely no substitute for good police work. ShotSpotter has never marketed its product as a replacement for the hard work of law enforcement professionals, and they never will. ShotSpotter systems are generally funded through separate funding streams than the operational budgets which pay police salaries, and we do not attempt to compete for operational funds when officers’ jobs are at stake.

  • What ShotSpotter can do is help police response to gunfire become more efficient. By eliminating false alarm calls, police respond to fewer events which waste their time, and save their energies for real emergencies. Moreover, because ShotSpotter provides immediate notification of events, police are more readily able to respond quickly enough to save lives and take criminals off the street, thereby reducing the criminal population of would-be shooters, as well as police workload.

pstawicki, apparently this system partially covers your concern (what exact technology is used apparently isn't allowed to be disseminated publicly, b/c of those pesky criminals doing their homework):

  • ShotSpotter products range from systems for public safety agencies and 911 dispatch centers (which instantly identify, locate and give a visual of the location of a gunshot event in an urban area) to fully mobile, inter-networked wireless systems for the military that are capable of detecting and locating many types of weapon events in various challenging environments.

6 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

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