Posted on 05/29/2016 9:27:46 AM PDT by EinNYC
The NYPD is eagerly expanding the use of ShotSpotter technology to detect gunfire around the city, but one institution isn’t on board: Columbia University.
Police sources say the Ivy League school declined a request from the NYPD to install the unobtrusive sensors on campus, without giving a reason.
“Columbia is an ideal location because of how it’s situated,” a police source told the Daily News. “We have no idea why they said no. Do they not want to be seen as cooperating with law enforcement?”
A Columbia spokesperson said the university is “continuing to review this proposal.”
The ShotSpotter sensors are generally installed on a rooftop and require only a standard electrical outlet. The NYPD is dependent on landlords allowing them to send electricians to install the detectors.
Columbia’s opposition to ShotSpotter is particularly concerning to the NYPD because the college is the second-largest landowner in the city. Gunfire is easiest to pinpoint when multiple sensors are in the area of the blast.
The NYPD installed ShotSpotter sensors in a pilot program that began in March 2015 and has since expanded.
Police have installed the sensors around upper Manhattan, but sources say it’s too soon to say whether ShotSpotter will be effective there due to the gaps in coverage.
“It was a very big problem for us. (Columbia is) such a big landlord in the Manhattan North area that for us to work around them and still get the level of coverage we require was very difficult,” a police official said. “It not only affects the students of the university but it really affects the safety of the communities that surround it.”
Incoming Columbia freshmen Adekunle Balogun, 18, of Metuchen, N.J., was baffled by his school’s refusal.
“That would make the campus (inset) a lot safer and improve student life and security,” he said.
Others questioned the need for the devices.
“In certain areas where there's no surveillance it could be a good thing,” said recent Columbia Law School graduate Makoto Ohnuma, 29. “But on a majority of campus, it’s really not necessary.”
An astonishing 80% of gunfire is not reported to police, according to the NYPD.
Last month, the NYPD said ShotSpotter had led to the recovery of 43 guns since the initiative began.
“It increases the chances of catching the shooter,” Mayor de Blasio said last year. “It increases the chances of recovering the weapon. It increases the chances of stopping further crime.”
i’m sure the students dont want it either on political grounds. I’ll weep the day they are taken out. /s
i went there for six months post grad. Commumists preaching out front every day. the arguments we had!!!
they said stalin wasn’t a real communist and the REAL thing woud be great
Guess where the next ‘unfortunate incident’ is most likely to occur?
When there is an incident on campus, expect to see major lawsuits for turning down this technology. Possibly led by an ultra left class action attorney.
One of Obama’s Alma Mater Marxist enclaves. No surprise here.
Columbia believes that violent crime is a legitimate career path for America’s indigenous urban peoples.
a police source told the Daily News. “We have no idea why they said no. Do they not want to be seen as cooperating with law enforcement?”
Sounds like a threat to me, gangster style...
It’s private property.
I see many many fines being issued to Columbia for code violations in the near future
They know who is doing the shooting and don’t want to be racist.
A few shootings and a couple of lawsuits then CU will come around.
It was a threat.
This thing is not the “magic bullet” it is cracked up to be. It is just an excuse to have the police harass everybody within a five block radius.
Sure, if you toss everybody in a five block area in New York, you will find a lot of guns. Maybe not the guns involved in a particular crime, but all guns, pretty much, are illegal in New York City. So any gun found is a gun involved in a crime.
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