Police and school officials are testing the “ShotSpotter” technology that could help pinpoint the location of gunfire inside schools and other buildings to hasten law enforcement response, reports USA Today. The technology, which many cities use outside in crime-ridden neighborhoods to assist police, is being adapted for indoor use. Pilot projects are underway in two school systems. The first fully functioning interior gunfire-detection system is expected to go live later this year at the Savannah, Ga., College of Art and Design.
John Buckovich, the school’s chief of public safety, said that while there has never been a mass campus shooting incident involving the institution of 12,000 students, the strategy seemed a logical extension of its security program. Since 26 students and administrators were fatally wounded in a 2012 school attack in Newtown, Ct., there have been at least a half dozen other deadly campus shootings. Three high school students were fatally wounded last month at a Washington State high school where the shooter, a fellow student, later killed himself.