Wilmington, Delaware
A Technology-Focused Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence
Project Overview
The City of Wilmington has a high homicide rate, and a low homicide clearance rate. A comprehensive scan and analysis conducted by the Wilmington Public Safety Commission found that gun violence occurs in hotspots throughout the City and follows a near-repeat pattern. The Wilmington Police Department hopes to take steps to leverage existing and new technologies, including CCTV and gunshot detection systems, and other existing law enforcement resources in a more coordinated and effective manner to expand WPD’s ability to determine precise locations of illegal shooting incidents, generate leads on homicides and increase the clearance rate. In addition to leveraging technology, WPD will also develop new response protocols informed by research. As a part of the Wilmington SPI project, WPD and the Police Foundation will also conduct surveys with crime victims before and after program implementation to assess the revised CCTV program’s effects on public perception of police response to crime as well as legitimacy of the agency.
Methods and Findings
- Although only 7.6 percent of the state’s population resides in Wilmington, nearly half of the state’s homicides and shootings occur there.
- Wilmington has the 11th highest homicide rate in the nation. There were 108 non-fatal shootings and 26 homicides in 2015, and 105 non-fatal shootings and 28 homicides in 2016.
- An analysis of 2,700 violent street crimes reveals that once a crime occurs at a particular place, the risk of a similar offense occurring there in the next 14 days increases by 100 percent.
- The Wilmington Police Department (WPD) experience a 47 percent increase in calls for service in reference to shots fired in the year following implementation of the ShotSpotter Program as compared to the previous year.
- Due to the increase in identified gun crimes, WPD has been able to collect additional evidence and process evidence through a Match Point System. Based upon data collected, the analyst provides daily link analysis reports to investigators and weekly reports to command staff.
