Indianapolis Police Metropolitan Department prepares to spend $9M to add gunshot-detection technology

Indianapolis, Indiana — According to Leaders of the Indianapolis Police Metropolitan Department, they will be spending the $9 million they received from the federal American Rescue Plan on new technology to help tackle the gun violence plaguing the city.

The technology could include adding gunshot-detection systems throughout Indianapolis. “We’re going to have increased information about when gunshots are fired in our city and have officers responding to that location more effectively,” said Officer Matthew Thomas, commander of IMPD’s criminal investigations division.

The gunshot-detection system relies on sensors that detect the sound of gunfire, Thomas said. He says no gunshot detection systems are now in place in Indianapolis. “We’ve identified an area on the east side of Indianapolis, that’s between 4 and 5 square miles, that has the highest density of shooting-related incidents as well as robberies.”

According to Thomas, vendors can apply for the pilot program and, if selected, put their sensors in a specific area. He says there are 250 public safety cameras in the city, and officials will double the amount, to 50, of license-plate readers as well.

“We listen and when listening what we hear is enthusiasm for bringing resources to communities that are seeing higher-than-average levels of violence,” Thomas said. “People are asking, you know, ‘When?’ ‘How many?’ ‘Why not here?’”

The American Rescue Plan provided $350 billion in emergency funding for U.S. state, local, territorial and Tribal governments to remedy the mismatches between rising costs and falling revenues as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Mayor Joe Hogsett, in Indianapolis, the federal plan provided $150 million for violence reduction programs in the city.