They started counting the gunshots near the Johns Hopkins University on Nov. 20.
So far, 93 sound sensors have detected two noises loud enough to register on a new computer system designed to pinpoint gunfire by the explosion that forces a bullet from the barrel of a gun:
* Dec. 2 at 2600 N. Calvert St., at 12:34:05 in the morning.
* Dec. 3 at 4 W. University Parkway, at 8:38:32 in the morning.
Only two? That's great news for residents of Charles Village and parts of Homewood, Abell and Harwood - residential neighborhoods east of the Hopkins campus in North Baltimore. Even better is that the bang heard on Calvert Street was nothing more than firecrackers; the noise on University Parkway remains a mystery.
But it also raises a question of whether this new SECURES Gunshot Detection System is installed in the right place to test whether it works and whether it helps police respond more quickly to the reports of gunfire that, unfortunately, are a fairly common call for Baltimore police officers.
There certainly are neighborhoods where the sounds of gunshots seem as common as cars backfiring, and Charles Village and the Hopkins campus aren't on that list. But, in Hopkins' defense, the company gave them the system for free - allowing city police to evaluate it and maybe buy it if they like it, and the university to boast it is the one of the first college campuses in the country to count gunshots where its students live and play.
The sound sensors are wireless, but they have to be close to a permanent base unit, so the system can't be easily moved to, say, East or West Baltimore.
But university officials did broaden its reach east of the campus to include areas from Howard Street in the west to Barclay street in the east and University Parkway in the north down to East 25th Street in the south.
I have to admit, the system is fun to watch at the Hopkins security office in Remington, where dispatchers keep an eye on a bank of computer screens and live video streaming in from 155 surveillance cameras. A large screen on the wall shows a map of the area covered by the gunshot detection system.
When four sensors register a noise - they can differentiate a car backfire from a gunshot - a starburst appears on the map, which is superimposed on Google satellite imagery showing the location within 10 feet. The Hopkins dispatcher can then notify city police and get an officer there quickly.
