Denver Police Fire Shots To Test Wildly Successful 'ShotSpotter' System

DENVER (CBS4) - Denver police fired gunshots Friday night to test the city's ShotSpotter system. The system helps police pinpoint the location of shootings before they're called in.

Police call the tests very necessary because the ShotSpotter system is highly effective and has already proven to take handfuls of criminals of the streets.

Police fired round after round to see if the system could pinpoint where the shots were coming from.

"We will be testing our system to make sure that it is operating correctly," Sonny Jackson with Denver Police said before the testing.

ShotSpotter was introduced in Denver a year ago. The audio system digitally records percussion made by a firing weapon. Audio recording devices work to pinpoint the location where the shot were fired from and can notify police in less than a minute to within just a few feet from a crime scene.

"It's a good system; it's being put in place for a reason," Jackson said. "It's being put in place for community safety. It's a situation where it has paid big dividends since we've had it already."

Denver City Council approved more than $500,000 in new spending to expand the ShotSpotter system after the trial program's wild success, netting 30 arrests and recording more than 1,600 shots fired.

Police say adding more ShotSpotters to areas with the most gun violence is a vital part of their crime-fighting strategy.

"Anything that's going to give us another tool to help us get dangerous people off the street, help us solve crime, and keep our community safe is very important," Jackson said.

Every shot fired by police went into a trap and every round was accounted for.