New Bern considering the widely used Shot Spotter tool

NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) - Shot Spotter is a program that uses gun detection technology to notify police officers when shots have been fired.

In New Bern, people are getting a chance to voice their thoughts on it before the Board of Alderman votes on whether to install it.

Captain Mike Montanye was the project manager of the shot spotter program at Greenville Police Department when it was first implemented in 2019.

He says shot spotters help police with response time.

Captain Mike Montanye, of the Greenville Police Department’s field operations bureau said, “Now we respond to the area, not only do we know we are responding to a gunshot detection, but it also changes our approach. now we are talking to these residents. Hey, we know that there were gunshots in this area, and we know that this happened, help us solve this problem.”

Montanye added that the program also provides quicker and more accurate information about gunshots, such as the number of shots fired, and closer proximity of the source of the gunshots.

Sergeant Tyler Whaley says this program helped officers Wednesday night when they received a shot spotter alert while dealing with a crime.

Sergeant Whaley shared, “Officers are already enroute as soon as they receive that alert on their phone. that allowed them to find the crime scene, possibly find victims, officers can begin their investigative measures trying to build up suspects and cars and things like that, all while on the way to the car.”

Officers can access the Shot Spotter program from both their phones and laptops.

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