ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- The City of Elmira is taking a new step to combat gun violence by installing an advanced gun detection system. The City Council unanimously approved a two-year subscription for the system.
The system called Raven will utilize 70 microphones in 40 different locations throughout the city. Flock Safety, the same company that the city uses for its license plate readers is the same company providing the gun detection system.
"Coming to the city of Elmira is an audio gunshot detection system which is coming through Flock, our vendor," says Sergeant William Goodwin with the Elmira Police Dept. "We currently have license plate reader software through them already, and now we're going to be integrating the audio gunshot detection system."
Using artificial intelligence (AI), the system will be able to distinguish gunfire from other loud sounds, such as fireworks or a car backfiring. Importantly, the microphones are designed to trigger only when a gunshot is detected, ensuring that regular conversations and other street noises are not monitored.
"I think one good thing to know, which has raised a concern from a couple {of} people, I think, is that we're listening across the city to things," says Chief Kristen Thorne, Elmira Police Department. "That is not the case. The same thing is with the flock cameras. I mean, if something kicks off this camera or kicks off this microphone, it does its job, but we are not listening to people's conversations walking down the street. We don't have time for that. So that is a myth. It's not happening."
The system is being funded through a New York State grant for law enforcement technology, it costs just over $64,000. Mayor Mandell is hopeful the new tool will help investigate gun-related crimes in the city.
"That'll be a good question because a lot of time bad guys um, even though they know we have the software to send over the flock cameras, they still commit the crimes. You would hope they would make them think twice that they're more likely now we're going to get caught with this type of software and this type of equipment that we have," says Mayor Mandell.
The city is optimistic that this new system will serve as a deterrent and help law enforcement respond quickly to incidents of gun violence. The system is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2024.