Common questions about the CivicAlert system.
No. The system supports community-initiated reporting rather than automatic police dispatch. While law enforcement agents may themselves decide to sign up for the service and subscribe to alerts, this system does not integrate with any police dispatch systems, automated or otherwise, and it is still up to you to decide when and if to call the police.
Law enforcement will not have access to any other types of information that are not also available to residents and community users; however, they will have access to higher accuracy location data. This allows law enforcement to respond as quickly as possible to potentially life-threatening situations while discouraging vigilante justice. Note that law enforcement personnel cannot see who owns a device, access any personally identifiable information about a device owner, or associate a particular person with a gunfire incident outside of any actions that the individual may choose to take to report the gunfire.
Any sensor you host processes audio locally on the device itself and only transmits data when a gunshot is positively detected. A data packet contains only a short, encrypted evidence clip, an estimate of the time that the event was detected, and the current GPS location of the device. No continuous recording or audio surveillance ever occurs, and no personally identifiable information is ever stored on or transmitted from the device. In fact, there is no mechanism to remotely log into a device or to monitor its audio stream at all. Additionally, on-device audio data only exists for the short number of milliseconds needed for processing, making it inaccessible to intruders, even in the case that a device gets stolen.
The system uses a combination of enterprise-grade encryption and authentication mechanisms to ensure secure transmission of data. Additionally, all network data is transmitted over a dedicated cellular channel that is unable to process voice data, texts, or regular internet traffic, and the network is also unable to communicate with non-CivicAlert devices.
Based on in-house testing, the system has an approximately 96% correct classification rate, a 0.4% false positive rate, and ~10-yard of location accuracy. These numbers may vary significantly, however, based on the environment and the type of gunfire taking place.
The system uses advanced AI techniques to filter out false positives and only transmit evidence clips when a gunshot is positively detected. It is particularly effective against most natural and man-made sounds; however, false positives are still possible in some cases, primarily in the presence of fireworks. We are working on ways to further improve the system's accuracy in these difficult cases.
The pilot program is free for participants. Future sustainability will depend on community support, follow-on grants, and potential city funding.
No. The sensors plug directly into standard outdoor electrical outlets and require no additional setup or configuration. Access to the system is provided via either a mobile or web app, which you will be able to download and access in the same way as any other internet resource. Our community volunteers will provide support for any technical questions over the course of the pilot.