Worcester Police See ShotSpotter Connect Crime Drop: Memo

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester police have released the first report on the new crime forecasting software ShotSpotter Connect, which the department began using over the summer following a contentious approval process in early 2021.

According to police, 13 out of 16 crime types were below average levels over the first three months of the department using ShotSpotter Connect. However, Chief Steven Sargent notes in a memo there may be a lag in incident reporting, and that the initial report "may be subject to change."

"Overall, this analysis shows crime trending down with the application of ShotSpotter Connect," Sargent said in memo.

The Connect software is a relatively new law enforcement product offered by ShotSpotter, which has for years sold gunshot detection devices to police departments across the globe. The Worcester City Council voted to start using Connect after the company offered the city a discount on new acoustic gunshot detectors.

Worcester police began using the Connect software at the beginning of July after a training period. The software alerts police to places in the city where certain crimes are trending up. Connect then advises where police should focus patrols to prevent more crime from occurring.

Related: Worcester Police Signed Deal To Use Crime Forecast Tool In December

According to the report, crimes like aggravated assault, shoplifting, burglary and homicide were below five-year averages during the third quarter, which is the first three months Connect was in place.

For example, there were 218 aggravated assault incidents on average over five years in the third quarter. The number of aggravated assaults was at 203 in Q3 2021. Aggravated assaults in Worcester have been on a downswing in recent years, however, with the annual figure down to 909 in 2020 from a decade high of 1,350 in 2014, according to FBI crime statistics.

Crime overall have been falling in Worcester in recent years, according to the FBI stats. There were an estimated 1,169 violent crime incidents in 2020, down from about 1,800 per year between 2010 and 2014. There were about 3,695 property crime incidents in 2020, down from around 6,000 incidents per year between 2010 and 2014.

Three crime categories did rise compared to five-year averages during Connect's first three months: weapons law violations, car thefts and theft of car parts, which police said was due to one person stealing a lot of catalytic converters. That person was arrested in October, police said.

The three-page report did not include geographic data about crime, and it does not say which parts of the city Connect played a role in dispatching officers.

Worcester has signed up to test Connect for one year. The department has said it will release quarterly reports about the tool to track its effectiveness.