ShotSpotter - A Sign of The Times

[maxingout]

Personal security remains a central issue in the minds of people considering the cruising lifestyle. I worried about it as I set sail with my family on our voyage.

We never had any serious security problems anywhere in the world on board Exit Only. When we came back to the USA, we were surprised by the amount of gun related violence in the US. I can imagine that cruisers visiting the US probably have security concerns as well.

Today there was an article in the newspaper about a new technology used in big cities called "ShotSpotter". There are now 36 cities across the US that use ShotSpotter. Palo Alto California is completely wired with this system, and Washington DC has 16 square miles covered with ShotSpotter.

This system consists of acoustic sensors and GPS units that detect gunshots, and within a few seconds using triangulation, the police know the address where the gunshots happened. The police instantly dispatch officers to the shooting.

It amazes me that gun related violence has gotten so far out of control in 36 cities that they have actually installed these systems.

Very sobering news. Makes me want to cruise to a location where you don't need ShotSpotter technology.

Here is an article on ShotSpotter. One more reason to go cruising.

HowStuffWorks "How can acoustics technology help police locate gunshots?"

[MarkJ]

I remember so many news articles about viloence on TV and how, for example, a 10 year old kid has seen 1,000 murders on TV etc etc...

In my 20's I just thought that was all crap....

30's too,

But in my 40's I see just one tv show repeated over and over and over... crime tv bang-bang-you're-dead. Viloence, blood and defilement of brain.

Its not just USA TV, but Australian and even Brittish TV where bang bang you're dead is done with a nicer accent....

We are reaping what we sow.

Now cruising when I try to swap books with crusiers we get a saloon full of bang bang you're dead novels.

Well, I am sick of it!

Shove your crime books up a dark passage. Because it infects the brains of the kids.

It really does.

That some cities need a thing like shot spotter is beyond belief.

[john540]

Just because new whiz-bang technology exists doesn't mean that the problems it addresses are new. I highly doubt that Palo Alto is wired with Shotspotter, however East Palo Alto, an entirely different city on the other side of the freeway could be. I remember about twenty years ago when East Palo Alto was the murder capital for a while. They didn't have Shotspotter then, but the problems may have been worse than now. Just because Washington DC has a lot of shootings doesn't mean that I feel the need to escape from the US and sail to Mexico. I bet Mexico won't have shotspotter in place in their cities for a long time, but their murder rate is much higher than Iraq's.

[maxingout]

You are correct about Palo Alto.

East Palo Alto is the first city completely wired with ShotSpotter.

I lived offshore as an expatriate for twenty-eight years, and I'm not used to gun related violence. I guess that's why having ShotSpotter in 36 cities comes as such a shock. This is war zone technology in my own country.

After cruising to so many beautiful areas where they don't need ShotSpotter, I am a little discouraged with what has happened at home.

I feel the call to sail back to awesome destinations where they don't need ShotSpotter. I've been there, done that, and it feels good.

[Celestialsailor]

When it comes to Michael Moore, people either love him or hate him...However there is no dispelling his facts about violence and TV in his movie "Bowling for Columbine". He ties in the thinking behind our media and control of the masses.

[stevensc]

"But in my 40's I see just one tv show repeated over and over and over... crime tv bang-bang-you're-dead. Viloence, blood and defilement of brain.

Its not just USA TV, but Australian and even Brittish TV where bang bang you're dead is done with a nicer accent....
From the advertisments I have seen for computer games they are even worse."

Strangely enough many of the film makers and actors in those films piblicly proport to be extremely anti violence and anti gun proponents yet they make their living and a good one off of gun violence!
Steve

[DeepFrz]

Gun violence has spread into Canada with a vengeance. Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver are leaders in gun violence now in Canada. Just a few short years ago there were very few handgun related crimes, now 12 year old kids are packing. I am also of the belief that violent films, computer games and poverty have a great deal to do with it. The war on drugs has spread gun violence as well, IMHO.

Our politicians keep doing over and over the things that have proved time after time not to work. That is one definition of insanity.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Gun violence has spread into Canada with a vengeance. Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver are leaders in gun violence now in Canada. Just a few short years ago there were very few handgun related crimes, now 12 year old kids are packing. I am also of the belief that violent films, computer games and poverty have a great deal to do with it. The war on drugs has spread gun violence as well, IMHO.

Our politicians keep doing over and over the things that have proved time after time not to work. That is one definition of insanity.

I'm definitely with you on the computer games paving the road to youth related violence. My friends Son, when loosing during Grand theft auto would have violent tantrums and then sulk for a few days. It was pretty scary.

[Ram]

I also agree, the video games seem to be the worst of the bunch- my 9 year old grand son plays that crap & I dont allow it when ever he is with me- My son in law is playing those games all the time - im happy hes not around my Grand Son much for this reason alone

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I'm definitely with you on the computer games paving the road to youth related violence. My friends Son, when loosing during Grand theft auto would have violent tantrums and then sulk for a few days. It was pretty scary.

I read somewhere (don't have the reference for it) that the method of shootings has changed since violent computer games...
In the old days a shooter would shoot a person in the center mass until they fell down (also taught by Military).
However, video games often work that more points are scored on the first hitting head shot. So in a video game a 'character' may walk into a room full of bad people and instead of shooting each target individually at centre mass, they would just try for a headshot and move on to the next target before seeing if the first one had fallen.

So Police have noticed a difference... and know where its come from.

Thats scary.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I read somewhere (don't have the reference for it) that the method of shootings has changed since violent computer games...
In the old days a shooter would shoot a person in the center mass until they fell down (also taught by Military).
However, video games often work that more points are scored on the first hitting head shot. So in a video game a 'character' may walk into a room full of bad people and instead of shooting each target individually at centre mass, they would just try for a headshot and move on to the next target before seeing if the first one had fallen.

So Police have noticed a difference... and know where its come from.

Thats scary.

I heard today that the rise in violent drug crimes in Mexico was attributed directly to the arms flowing from the US to Mexico. It was not long ago on this forum a young girl in Mexico was kidnapped, thrown in a trunk of a car and murdered.
So you see, you can go cruising but you cannot hide. When raising kids I was animate about how much TV they watched and NO video games...Yes, I was the grouch of the house.

[hellosailor]

"Gun violence has spread into Canada with a vengeance. " How strange, didn't Parliament swear that banning guns would decrease gun crime? And that all the years (20-30 years of good data) from the US DOJ showing that exactly the opposite happens, were bunk?

The deployment of Shotspotter and similar technologies does not indicate a city has a gun violence problem. Rather, it indicates the city PD, or someone running for office on an "I'll save you!" platform, was able to spend big bucks on a high publicity system that might or might not actually be needed. The premise is that any shot--even one shot--is something that demands immediate response, and by deploying these acoustic systems, the criminals will be discouraged from using guns (at all for any reason) because the PD can be immediately and accurately dispatched.

A bunch of nice theories, not to be confused with whatever the local reality is.

Somehow, a whole generation grew up in the US watching Roy Rogers and The Lone Ranger and owning toy cowboy guns...and we never had a problem with kids being mistaken for perps, or gun violence.

This is part and parcel of one of the major flaws in Western mindset, mistaking coincidence with causality or simultaneity. Just because you find 5 dead bodies in the same place, doesn't mean that is a dangerous place. It might be the morgue, not the place of death. Or, you could assume that broaching a boat causes squalls, since the two are often found in the same place.

There's an awful lot of invalid assumptions hyped on the Nooze all the time, often passed off as scientific study results by folks who shouldn't be allowed to practice janitorial science.

Never set sail on Friday...don't go to sea in a blue boat...never allow a woman on a boat...All PROVEN cause and effect, right?

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Never set sail on Friday...don't go to sea in a blue boat...never allow a woman on a boat...All PROVEN cause and effect, right?

"Never give a sucker an even break...Never take a one legged man to an ass kicking contest"...Now those you can take to the bank!!!

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Never set sail on Friday...don't go to sea in a blue boat...never allow a woman on a boat...All PROVEN cause and effect, right?

Never try and make friends with an American as they might shoot you when you wave from the dinghy.

You people must see that the rest of the developed world thinks differently.

[hellosailor]

Our thinking very definitely is warped, but then again, the Western cultures all share some serious problems. Article in today's papers about identifying the children who were disappeared for 30 years in a certain small country south of us, one of several countries where that was the government program in the late 1900's, all sharing the heritage of Spain. We tend to see things like that, and consider that our culture isn't so bad by comparison--warts and all.

Or, as Al Hirt used to say about how he went fishing out of N'Orlins (with one thermos full of iced beer and the other full of dynamite, literally) the trick is to remember which one to hold, and which one to throw.

Decisions, decisions. Travel only broadens the mind if the traveler has one, sadly many just don't. Regardless of where "home" is.