ShotSpotter Response is video surveillance technology that reacts to and alerts officers to shots fired.

“We’ve put ShotSpotter in place to reduce gun violence and crime,” said West Columbia Police Chief Marion Boyce at a West Columbia City Council meeting, Monday.

Since July 27, when the surveillance equipment was installed, the WCPD has responded to two “shots fired” incidents. “It has drastically cut response time,” Boyce said. Officers have been on the scene in an average of one minute and 30 seconds.

The technology picks up the sound of shots fired and distinguishes gunshots from a car backfire or fireworks. Video evidence is recorded at the point of where the shots were fired and that helps police see what has happened and who is doing what.

Boyce said the technology is being employed in a roughly one square mile area of West Columbia bounded by Triangle City, Platt Springs Road, 9th Street and Sunset Boulevard.