City of Anderson installing gunshot detection devices
ANDERSON, Ind. (WISH) — The Anderson city government is in the process of installing gunshot-detection devices around high-crime areas in the city of 55,000 people in Madison County.
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings says the technology helps officers get to scenes faster. “The shots are tracked by the equipment immediately go to dispatch. Dispatch will send an officer in that direction.”
In 2023, the city’s police department began setting up the gunshot detectors, after partnering with the company Flock Safety. The cameras are similar to ones formerly used in Indianapolis. Indianapolis stopped using the system since it produced no more evidence than 911 calls did.
The Republican prosecutor hopes to have 175 of the detectors in place in Anderson. “These kind of technologies increase the likelihood we’re going to find out who committed the crimes and enhance our chances of receiving a prosecution at trial.”
Even though it’s an hour’s drive from Indianapolis, Anderson is not immune to the some of the big-city crime plaguing its metropolitan neighbors to the south.
“We’re third in sending convicted criminals to prison 12 of the last 13 years. Only Marion County and Fort Wayne, Allen County, send more people to prison than we do.”
Cummings says many of the people committing the crimes in Anderson are coming into the city from other communities.
Jobs leaving the city and other economic factors also have driven up the crime rate, the prosecutor says.
He says technology can only do so much. People who are fed up with crime have to speak out. “Snitches get stitches is an attitude that’s ridiculous. All that means is criminals can kill people and commit crimes and get away with it.”
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