I guess that tech I suggested isn't too expensive after all

[Will Robinson]

Using battlefield tech to locate shooters in the city

[Tunnelcat]

Could it distinguish fireworks from gunshots I wonder?

[Spidey]

Yes…can’t you?

Well I guess you have to hear them all of the time to be able to tell the difference. (gunshots here several times a month)

Seems to be a huge waste of money…I mean…with all of those gun control laws in the state and city, who could possibly be firing all these shots.

[Z..]

Probably the police shooting at an unarmed person 41 times.

[CUDA]

I thought all those anti gun laws that NY has and all the Money the Bloomberg spent getting rid of guns removed the need for such technology

[Krom]

This kind of technology sounds like something that is only expensive when the military/government is doing it. One laptop and a half dozen cellular phones plugged in to key locations throughout an area with upgraded microphones could do it for dirt cheap after a few hours of programming.

[Tunnelcat]

Yes…can’t you?

Well I guess you have to hear them all of the time to be able to tell the difference. (gunshots here several times a month)

Seems to be a huge waste of money…I mean…with all of those gun control laws in the state and city, who could possibly be firing all these shots.

True, but some of the illegal fireworks people shoot off here sound like cannons being fired.

[roid]

This kind of technology sounds like something that is only expensive when the military/government is doing it. One laptop and a half dozen cellular phones plugged in to key locations throughout an area with upgraded microphones could do it for dirt cheap after a few hours of programming.

I bet you could do it with nothing more than a free (seriously battery draining) app, any phone can listen from your pocket/bag, recording the past hour of audio. When the app receives a request, all phones can analyse their cached audio data and send the results (or just send the audio data, then analyse it centrally).
It could be calibrated by firing test shots every now and again. Better yet - have it sync to any church bells in your area. There's probably tons of loud non-suspicious sounds a cop car could make to regularly sync everyone's local system (once a day). Even a loud car muffler, but with a specific easy to identify signature/frequency, drive that around the city once a day.

It might not be particularly accurate, because of GPS inconsistencies. But if people are anything like me, their phone spends most of it's time on only a few specific desks at work/home (which could have their geolocation entered manually for very high accuracy). Hell, that'd be the perfect solution, because the battery drain won't be an issue if the app is only active when the phone is on it's usual charging location. Still... i think we all know better thesedays to trust an official listening device in our homes/offices to not snoop on us (no thank u).

But i doubt the police really expect to be able to pin-point the individual shooter amongst a crowd - all they want is a location so they can immediately dispatch units to the hot zone, a vague area.

Ok, in retrospect maybe just install the app on cop phones, and also add it to all cop cars (like Krom says, nothing special, just a cheap-as-★■◆● android device with a mic or 2 on the car roof). Surely that should be enough, what with all their patrolling.
They can sync everytime they return to the station (maybe during recharge).

.... ok now i'm getting kinda nervous about the posabilities of multiple cops walking around a crowd, like a protest maybe, automatically mapping the locations of every voice they can triangulate from the chatter.