CINCINNATI — More police departments are cracking down on gun crimes using AI technology to go up against the growing trend.
Ohio has the 16th highest rate of gun homicides and gun assaults in the country, according to everystat.org, a website tracking gun violence.
To combat the issue, some police departments are adopting AI technology, including drones and gunfire-detection systems, with the aim to better protect people, but activists are concerned it could lead to over-policing.
Carlos Buford and David Fox stand together as community activist in Dayton, but there’s one thing they don’t agree on and part of it is looking right back at them.
“There's always surveillance technology everywhere….I think it's so much that you become inundated with so much, you get tired of seeing those devices around," Buford said.
Buford is the founder of Black Lives Matter Dayton. He said the speed cameras are just one example, but he believes another use of police technology went too far.
“We felt that that was part of the over-policing in our communities and that was one of the Black Lives Matter Dayton 10-point demands for the Dayton police was to end the ShotSpotter program," Buford said.
ShotSpotter is AI technology that picks up sound and alerts police of possible gunfire. Dayton police used the tech for three years and reported a 55% reduction in crime in the areas where it was used.
But in a statement, police cited community response, changes in state law and the budget as reasons they're no longer using ShotSpotter.
Experts with Sound Thinking, the tech company behind ShotSpotter, say more police departments are signing up to use it despite concerns.
“More than 180 cities rely on it, and we know from measuring our performance across all of those cities and many years that the system maintains a high level of accuracy," said Thomas Chittum, vice president of forensic services for Sound Thinking.
Cleveland police just approved a budget putting more money into the tech. Cincinnati and Columbus police are also actively using ShotSpotter.
It'd something Fox, a former police chief, says Dayton police should use again.
“So many people getting shot all over the city and anything that we can use to either deter, repress or help in the investigation is well worth spending the money for," Fox said.
He said the tech is only useful if not used the wrong way.
“If you and I were on the street corner near one of them, they can actually hear you talking, so that's one of the downfalls but other than that, just being a spotter is very beneficial," Fox said.
In the meantime, Dayton police say they are using beat officers for now as more police turn to ShotSpotter to try and curb gun violence.
