Gunshot detectors hear only part of Troy
City one of many with partial coverage
At Second and Harrison streets in South Troy Thursday night, candles burned on the sidewalk as helium balloons floated above them, bouncing off an empty vodka bottle lying side-by-side with a bottle that once held blackberry-flavored brandy. An unopened can of Pepsi stood near the center. The memorial was a tribute to 29-year-old Jimmy Chapman, or "Pops" as his friends called him.
A woman who called herself Nikia told CBS 6 she had been Chapman's girlfriend for the last eight months; that he died Wednesday afternoon and that he was a rapper from the Bronx who had been living with her, a few blocks away from his baby-mother, as Nikia put it. She said his funeral would be in New York City.
Police came after someone called them reporting a man was down but sometimes police may come as soon as they hear a shot with a tool called ShotSpotter. Troy began using it last November. Sensors pick up the sound and tell police where the shot came from.
Some people who contaced CBS 6 News claimed ShotSpotter did not work this time. The mayor's office sent an e-mail to CBS 6's Craig Smith saying, "The Shot Spotter system was and is operating properly."
One of ShoSpotter's vice presidents told Smith if the police department's equipment did not pick up the shot then the shot probably was outside the system's coverage area and said the city would be able to expand that area if it chose to spend more money on it.
"A lot of cities can't afford to do that right at the beginning," says ShotSpotter V.P. Gregg Rowland, "so a lot of times they'll buy what they can afford to buy, concentrate the system in areas where they're having the most problems and then expand the system as they get more funds."
Asked whether he would like to see a wider area of coverage, Mayor Harry Tutunjian said "At sometime yeah, we'd certainly consider that." Asked whether the city has the money to do it now, Tutunjian said "Not set aside but I'm sure we could look into it further as time goes on. We have other priorities right now that we're working on."
City Council President Clement Campana suggested grants might pay for more coverage. "Obviously, there's a need," Campana said.
A spokesman for the police department referred CBS 6 to the mayor's office, saying it's a matter for city administrators to address.
