Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini says he’s seeking grants to fund the ShotSpotter program, a gunfire detection system in which sensors triangulate the exact location of gunfire and officers are immediately dispatched to that site.
It is currently used in the county’s high crime areas.
County Executive Steve Bellone cut funding for ShotSpotter from his 2017 budget proposal. The county has spent about $1.5 million dollars on the system.
While the program has been a success in New York City and Nassau, a 2013 study by the Suffolk police found a large number of false reports of gunfire.