OPINION: Smoke Alarms and Gunshot Detection—Saving Lives

By Ralph Clark Imagine, for a moment, that you live in a community with an elevated risk of fire.& And despite interventions—such as updating building codes and conducting regular building inspections—fire incidents, while mitigated, persist.& For this reason, the local city government mandates every structure must install and maintain a smoke alarm, even to the point where the city subsidizes smoke alarms for low-income tenants.& Do the smoke alarms prevent fires from starting? No. Do they alter the dryness of the climate or change the composition of the buildings’ materials to make it less likely that a fire will start?& Also, no. But, if there is a fire, the smoke alarms immediately alert the local fire department so that firefighters can respond to the scene and hopefully prevent further damage, injury, and loss of life. This is precisely the role of ShotSpotter.& & Much like a smoke alarm, ShotSpotter is a critical tool that helps mitigate harm by detecting gunfire and then alerting first responders with a precise location within 60 seconds. Just as smoke alarms don’t prevent fires—but do play a crucial role in limiting property damage and loss of life by ensuring a swift response—ShotSpotter plays a similar...