Device to pinpoint gunmen

Bugging devices that can pinpoint the exact location of gunmen as they open fire could come to the streets of the West Midlands after detectives saw the technology in action in New York.

Two officers with West Midlands Police have praised the ShotSpotter technology, which is said to have reduced gun crime in the United States, after visiting the Big Apple for a demonstration. Now, the West Midlands region could become the first in the UK to adopt the technology.

The system works by using sensors which are connected to local police via phone lines and wireless broadband networks.

The sensors record sounds but saves the data only when a noise registers as a gunshot. The sound can provide the number and types of weapons used, if the gunman was moving, and the direction in which the shot was fired.

It is used by 27 US cities and detects an average of 40 gunshots per night.

ShotSpotter, which can decode and transmit the information in seconds, can cover areas of many square miles.

But secrecy surrounds the exact locations of the sensors and what they look like.

West Midlands Police has now shown a keen interest in the device, which alerts officers to shootings which would otherwise go unreported by the public.

Ch Supt Phil Kay and Supt Pete Sear, who is heading police preparations for the Labour Party conference in Birmingham, visited the New York Police Department in December.

Mr Kay said: "In the US, the the technology has proved valuable and is one of a number of demonstrations we were very interested in.

"It is sophisticated equipment, and the sensors can distinguish between gunfire and a noise such as a loud firework.

"The technology would help with deployment of armed response vehicles and officers and provides advanced warnings of a situation they are going into."

The officers were also shown how officers on pedal cycles are used for crowd control to act as cordons.