Spotting the shots

If Youngstown has the money, they should invest in the gunshot technology they got a peek at last week at a North Jackson gun club.

Naturally, the demonstrators were gung ho about their product, but the one pitch I liked was that the sensors will pick up gunfire that largely goes unreported.

Those who do not know the city may be surprised that gunfire goes unreported. Yet it often does. Residents in some neighborhoods are lulled by a constant barrage of gunfire and don't bother to call it in, while at other times, residents hear it from a distance and call police, who drive around looking for gunfire but can't find it.

The sensors will now allow dispatchers to send officers to the location of the shots. And even if they can't find ths shooters, they can get an almost real time database of when shots are being fired and where and can vector (I love that word) units to patrol those neighborhoods on a frequent basis.

However, the money will be key. For a city that is already losing money, coming up with $250,000 for a square mile of sensors is expensive.

But if they can swing it, it would be worth it.