Spring Break
City Police tests new gunshot detection system
Issue date: 11/20/08
Both she and Skrodzki emphasized that the SECURES gunshot detection system is not a response to problems of gunshot activity, but rather it is an effort to increase the security of Hopkins.
Moore, on the other hand, believes the instillation of the system implies that Charles Village has a gun violence problem.
"This effort [to increase awareness that Charles Village is a great place to live] is made more challenging in the face of an assumption that the area is one so rife with gun violence that the SECURES system is thought to be beneficial . . . such an assumption is inappropriate as to Charles Village," she wrote.
The recently tested and completely new system consists of 93 acoustic sensors located on lamp posts in areas that encircle the campus: University Parkway to the North, 25th Street to the South, Barclay Street to the East and Charles Street to the West, with additional west coverage extending to Howard Street.
Reeves explained that the sensors of the SECURES gunshot detection system would pick up gunshots and then relay the information to the Hopkins Homewood Communication Center (HCC).
"That sound of the gunshot will come up on the LCD screen as a big red burst," she said. "The dispatchers from the center see this burst and notify the Baltimore Police who then go out. It is not the University Police who respond."
Skrodzki pointed to the benefits of the system's speed. Since the relaying of information from the sensor to the HCC takes only 3-5 seconds, the Baltimore Police will be able to respond more quickly to both aid victims and potentially apprehend the criminal.
While Skrodzki said implementing the system was a collaborative effort between Hopkins, PSI and the Baltimore Police Department, Moore is joined by other Charles Village community members and officials in voicing the lack of the larger community's consent or even consideration.
Mary Pat Clarke, the councilwoman for Charles Village believes awareness and cooperation are key tools in fighting crime.
"As we used to say, 'High tech lacks the effect of high touch.' Next time, let's engage the community itself in how best to protect and celebrate our JHU population," she wrote.
The technologically innovative detection system, developed by the Reston, Va.-based company, PSI, specializes in threat detection devices.
"PSI has new technology and they're trying to promote it so they set it up and give it to you free and hope that word gets out," Reeves said. "It's basically promotional."
Though other universities in different cities have similar types of gunshot detection systems, Hopkins is the first with this particular and highly accurate (90 percent accuracy rate) technology.
This afternoon at 1 p.m., a live demonstration of the system will be conducted for the news media in the Wyman Park Dell area of 29th and Charles Street.
Moore, on the other hand, believes the instillation of the system implies that Charles Village has a gun violence problem.
"This effort [to increase awareness that Charles Village is a great place to live] is made more challenging in the face of an assumption that the area is one so rife with gun violence that the SECURES system is thought to be beneficial . . . such an assumption is inappropriate as to Charles Village," she wrote.
The recently tested and completely new system consists of 93 acoustic sensors located on lamp posts in areas that encircle the campus: University Parkway to the North, 25th Street to the South, Barclay Street to the East and Charles Street to the West, with additional west coverage extending to Howard Street.
Reeves explained that the sensors of the SECURES gunshot detection system would pick up gunshots and then relay the information to the Hopkins Homewood Communication Center (HCC).
"That sound of the gunshot will come up on the LCD screen as a big red burst," she said. "The dispatchers from the center see this burst and notify the Baltimore Police who then go out. It is not the University Police who respond."
Skrodzki pointed to the benefits of the system's speed. Since the relaying of information from the sensor to the HCC takes only 3-5 seconds, the Baltimore Police will be able to respond more quickly to both aid victims and potentially apprehend the criminal.
While Skrodzki said implementing the system was a collaborative effort between Hopkins, PSI and the Baltimore Police Department, Moore is joined by other Charles Village community members and officials in voicing the lack of the larger community's consent or even consideration.
Mary Pat Clarke, the councilwoman for Charles Village believes awareness and cooperation are key tools in fighting crime.
"As we used to say, 'High tech lacks the effect of high touch.' Next time, let's engage the community itself in how best to protect and celebrate our JHU population," she wrote.
The technologically innovative detection system, developed by the Reston, Va.-based company, PSI, specializes in threat detection devices.
"PSI has new technology and they're trying to promote it so they set it up and give it to you free and hope that word gets out," Reeves said. "It's basically promotional."
Though other universities in different cities have similar types of gunshot detection systems, Hopkins is the first with this particular and highly accurate (90 percent accuracy rate) technology.
This afternoon at 1 p.m., a live demonstration of the system will be conducted for the news media in the Wyman Park Dell area of 29th and Charles Street.
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