The City of Hartford is receiving up to $100,000 in grant money to refine a plan that would use ShotSpotter technology help to identify and treat children who are exposed to gun violence and associated trauma.
The grant is a result of the city’s participation in Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, where more than 320 cities around the country competed. The challenge asked mayors to propose bold, inventive solutions to the toughest problems cities face.
On Wednesday morning Mayor Luke Bronin announced Hartford had been selected as one of 35 national finalists.
"In communities all across the country, young people are being exposed to gun violence at incredibly distressing rates and that is true right here in the city of Hartford," Bronin said.
According to the mayor, last year there were over 100 shootings confirmed throughout the city meaning many more children in the proximity were exposed to the violence.
"Whether it is mental health challenges or poor performance in school there are so many ways that are well documented that exposure to trauma can affect a child's growth and development," Bronin said.
ShotSpotter is an acoustic detection system that covers all residential neighborhoods in Hartford.
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Hartford Police Deputy Chief Brian Foley said the technology has improved the way they police crime, bringing them within a foot of the incident.
"What we learned is 80 percent of the shootings that occur in the city never got reported, where before ShotSpotter we were only getting 20 percent of the shootings," Foley said.
Hartford Police Chief David Rosado said this is an opportunity to balance those crime-solving advancements with bettering the community.
"We are proud to leverage our technology that we have to make sure we identify children that are at risk," Rosado said.
How exactly children will be identified and treated is still being discussed. Bronin said directly communicating the ShotSpotter results to early learning centers and schools in the vicinity could be an option.
In October, four cities will receive $1 million awards and one will receive a grand prize of $5 million to put their final proposals into practice.
