Just over one year ago, the Sparks Police Department began using a gunshot detection technology, and after having some success, the City of Reno approved the allocation of $450,000 in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds received through the American Rescue Plan Act to use Flock Safety gunshot detection and surveillance systems.
This technology is efficient, and it can differentiate between gunshots and fireworks.
Once it confirms that it heard a gunshot, dispatchers can have officers on the way to that area in around 60 seconds.Â
It can also give officers a 90-foot radius of where the gun was fired.
Reno Police say this is very helpful, because sometimes, shots are fired, and people do not report it.
"There could be sometimes where individuals don't call 9-1-1 after they hear gunshots or they might think that somebody else might call 9-1-1 and so what this really does is it eliminates that time frame," said Chris Johnson, Public Information Officer for the Reno Police Department.
Along with this new technology, Reno Police will be adding 40 more surveillance cameras to the downtown area, which they say will help a lot.
"And so that is going to really help our real time information center in order to, if we hear a shot go off, we can pull up the cameras to see who is involved in whatever altercation or gunshot that is occurring and be able to direct officers right where that individual is," said Chris Johnson, Public Information Officer for the Reno Police Department.
These new surveillance cameras will not have facial recognition features, but they will have license plate recognition technology.
Reno Police say all of this new technology will go up in the early months of 2025, and for the time being, the Flock Safety technology will only be in downtown Reno.
