PEORIA — The Peoria Police Department will utilize ShotSpotter technology for at least another three years, albeit at a higher cost for the product.
On Tuesday night the Peoria City Council unanimously approved a new contract between the police department and ShotSpotter, in which Peoria will pay $948,105 over the next three years to use the gunshot detection technology in six square miles across the city in South and Central Peoria.
That cost represents a 5% increase from the city’s previous contract with ShotSpotter.
The technology has been a vital one for the police department since it was first implemented in Peoria in 2013, Police Chief Brad Dixon told the council Tuesday night. Dixon also said the cost of ShotSpotter is something the department already had planned for its budget.
Dixon said the department uses the technology “quite often” and it delivers “pinpoint” accuracy for officers responding to ShotSpotter alerts of potential shootings.
Between 2024 and 2025 the police department responded to 1,948 ShotSpotter alerts, which coincided with 143 shootings and 25 homicides.
A heat map of alerts provided to the council shows a majority of the shootings are occurring in South Peoria. Over half of the alerts are coming within a 1/4 of a mile of a school or park, according to the data.
Dixon said ShotSpotter technology was the at “very front” of the city’s violent crime response.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria signs new deal to continue using gunshot detection technology
Reporting by JJ Bullock, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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