CHICAGO - Retired officers will monitor 50 new Chicago Police Department surveillance cameras equipped with listening devices that can detect the sound of gunfire and help pinpoint its location, officials announced Tuesday.
The former officers will work at the city’s 911 center and monitor images from the cameras and data on gunshot location. Police response will be dispatched from the center, said First Deputy Supt. Dana Starks.
The cameras, whose acquisition was first announced in April, will be installed beginning next month. All of the devices will be in operation within the next year, officials said. The new generation of cameras, which contain technological upgrades, will join 30 older models that already are in high-crime areas. The older devices will be retrofitted with the gunshot location technology after the new cameras have been installed.