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Funding For ShotSpotter Detection System Approved In LI Community After Increase In Shootings

Following a significant increase in shootings, the Suffolk County Legislature has approved funding to restore the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system.

Following a significant increase in shootings, the Suffolk County Legislature has approved funding to restore the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system.

Following a significant increase in shootings, the Suffolk County Legislature has approved funding to restore the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system.

Photo Credit: Pixabay/Image by Steve Buissinne

The Legislature approved the funding on Tuesday, Oct. 11, for the technology that was discontinued in 2019, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced.

According to the DA's Office, shooting incidents doubled from 2020 to 2021, after the ShotSpotter program was discontinued.

In 2021, shootings increased by another 34 percent, Tierney said. 

The DA's Office said 22 square miles, less than 1 percent of Suffolk County, experience more than 50 percent of the gun violence in the county. 

Tierney said these areas include:

  • Huntington Station
  • North Amityville
  • Wyandanch
  • Brentwood
  • Bay Shore
  • Central Islip
  • Coram
  • Gordon Heights
  • North Bellport
  • Shirley 
  • Mastic Beach

The DA's Office will work with law enforcement, schools, religious institutions, and businesses, to help safeguard areas that are most threatened by gun violence, Tierney said. 

“Children should not have to go to sleep to the sound of gunfire," Tierney said. "Mothers should not have to worry that their children will not come home and residents shouldn’t have to worry that a gunfight is going to spill out onto the street before them. This technology is going to be placed in those areas that are subjected to over 50 percent of the gun violence in our county."

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