Vallejo surveillance board seeks hard data on efficacy of police gunshot detection tech

VALLEJO – Vallejo’s Surveillance Advisory Board provisionally approved the ongoing use of gunshot detection technology throughout the city on Tuesday, but required the Vallejo Police Department to bring back a data assessment to support its claim that the technology is improving crime management.

The Vallejo Police Department has been using Flock Safety’s Raven gunshot detection technology for the past year through a beta test. Police Capt. Jerome Bautista touted Raven’s features during a surveillance board meeting Tuesday, saying it can help save lives by alerting police to shootings that residents may not report and helps officers and first responders more effectively locate victims and shell casings.

However, gunshot detection technology like Raven has proven controversial, as the surveillance board previously recommended against using the technology amid concerns about its accuracy and efficacy and some cities have discussed ending its use, although Oakland last year approved ongoing use of another similar technology through this year. But the Vallejo Police Department said the beta test demonstrated the technology’s usefulness, and requested that the Surveillance Advisory Board recommend its ongoing use for the Vallejo City Council’s consideration.

Bautista said the beta test and training on the technology’s use began in September 2024. He named some benefits, such as saying that when there are multiple gunshots in an area, Raven helps locate their origin as well as victims or the original scene of an incident. For example, he said, on May 12 police received a report of multiple gunshots in the Sonoma Boulevard area and a person who was shot. The original call for service had officers go to Broadway and Tennessee streets, but Raven helped officers determine that they should respond to the Sonoma and Tennessee area, he said.

However, Bautista said, “We don’t have Raven everywhere in the city. We absolutely need more coverage.”

Some surveillance board members were skeptical about how much Raven has improved the department’s efficacy, noting the lack of data in its presentation. When asked how police evaluated the technology to claim that it has improved city policing, Bautista said it can be difficult to quantify the outcome of incidents involving gunshots. He said that there are so many gunshots recorded around the city, and different factors affecting every incident, that it’s complicated to verify if Raven has actually increased the number of arrests or follow ups. 

“This is just another tool that helps us with combating crime and locating victims,” Bautista said. “It’s a reactive tool. It is only supplementing what we do.”

Some board members were not satisfied with that assessment and asked to see what metrics the department uses to determine how effective all of its technology, not just Raven, is in aiding crime management. 

Chair Simon Lee said those metrics are critical for not only the board’s assessment of the technology’s usefulness, but the City Council’s as well. 

“If there’s any attempt at gathering statistics and follow up regarding gunshots related to crimes prior to Flock being used, and also during the beta test, that would help us see effectiveness in policing,” Lee said. 

Bautista said that he only had anecdotal evidence and the department has only one crime analyst who does not have the capacity to handle a new large project to gather the information the board wants.

“We just have success stories,” Bautista said. “We don’t have more concrete data.”

Board member Tony Stewart said that there is no formally binding long-term agreement between the city and contractor so the board is under pressure to move the item forward before the beta test expires. However, the first motion on whether to recommend the continued use of the technology failed in a 3-3 tie with Lee, vice chair Mike Moreno and Alejandro Bras voting no. 

The board then voted 4-2, with Owen Russell and Moreno opposed, on a substitute motion to move forward with using the technology only if the department brings a comprehensive data report on Flock’s use to a special board meeting in August. 

The commission will use that report to decide if it will recommend continuing to use Raven, as the department must present the Flock contract to the Vallejo City Council in September. 

The board also for the first time reviewed the City Council’s decision Tuesday to spend $500,000 on a vendor to place mobile security towers around the city as a public safety measure. 

Although the council already unanimously approved the item before the board could review it, the board Tuesday unanimously approved moving forward with the police department’s recommended vendor, LiveView Technology Inc. The city will rely on San Francisco’s use policy for the company’s security towers, and will at a future meeting establish an ad hoc subcommittee to craft the city’s own policy for the towers. 

LiveView representative Eric Smith told the board that LiveView has passed all necessary security compliance assessments, although he didn’t detail the security certificates the company holds. He said that he also could not publicly share which cities the company’s technology is deployed in, besides San Francisco. The company on its website markets the technology as AI-driven mobile security systems used by many commercial locations to deter or catch potential thieves and reduce crime in parking lots.

Asked how its AI system defines and determines "behavioral threats,” Smith said the technology can be told where people should and should not be, and learns the behavior of people who are potentially loitering or appearing to commit theft. 

Smith said he’s never received a request for data-sharing between cities which want to access LiveView’s data, but said that “It’s definitely possible.”