Way to Locate Sources of Gunfire Shown

Seeking to deter celebratory New Year’s Eve gunfire, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials unveiled a tracking system Wednesday that they say can identify where a bullet has been fired from.

Deputies demonstrated the ShotSpotter by shooting blanks from a gun in a church parking lot in Willowbrook. Deputies at a computer screen in the nearby Century station were able to pinpoint where the shot was fired by tracking its sound with a microphone located near the parking lot.

The department plans to test the $185,000 device in the Willowbrook area, notable for its high number of shootings, for six months before deciding whether to buy it. Sheriff Lee Baca said the system could also help the department’s anti-gang effort by allowing deputies to respond quickly to drive-by shootings.

The new device employs microphones around the neighborhood to detect the sound of gunfire and relays the information to the station’s computer. The system, made by Trilon Technology of Los Altos, Calif., is said to be accurate to within 40 feet. Sheriff’s officials would not say how many microphones are being set up or where they are located.

Company President Robert Showen said the device is being used by police in Redwood City, a town near San Francisco where he said New Year’s Eve gunfire has been dramatically reduced.

The demonstration Wednesday was overshadowed by questions about the Lennox sheriff’s station fund-raising raffle, which will award a 9-millimeter Beretta handgun or $500 to the winner.

Baca said he would review the matter. “In a culture of law enforcement, weapons are often used in raising funds. That cultural conflict needs to be addressed,” he said, but added that “as long as [the guns] are not placed in the community, we can deal with it.”

He said he would consider restricting future raffle participation to peace officers.

Sheriff’s officials said celebratory gunfire is a diminishing problem in the county. There were only two arrests this year for the illegal discharge of weapons, down from a previous average of 18 annually. In Willowbrook, however, officials said gunfire is so common that residents often don’t bother to report it.

Earlier Wednesday, the Los Angeles Police Department honored the four student winners of an anti-gunfire essay and public service announcement contest.

Chief Bernard C. Parks used the opportunity to emphasize the danger of celebratory gunplay. “Over the past seven years, 5,000 ‘shots fired’ calls were made on New Year’s,” he said. “All have the potential of killing people.”

He added that celebratory gunfire on the Fourth of July this year killed 9-year-old Brian Perez in South Los Angeles. The boy was the 39th person killed by such stray bullets since 1985, according to police.

“Children are often affected because they are not fully cognizant of the danger of guns, and are often victimized by being at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Parks said.

At Wednesday’s LAPD ceremony, held at the Police Academy in Elysian Park, 8-year-old Jasmine Peterlin of Torrance read her essay for parents, teachers and officers. Later, on a tour of the academy, she pressed her nose against the bulletproof glass separating her from the academy’s firing range.

She was only partly impressed. Although she had thought of becoming a police officer, she now has other plans. “I want to be a professional hula dancer,” she said.