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TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
ATTENTION: Ryan Smoot, City Manager
FROM: Brian McNerney, Director of Public Safety
SUBJECT: Consideration and possible action to authorize the City Manager to execute Agreement File No. 1097, in a form approved by the City Attorney, with SoundThinking Inc., to implement ShotSpotter and PlateRanger systems to enhance public safety.
DATE: July 14, 2025
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Enhancing and transforming public safety using technology was an identified improvement of the Public Safety Assessment presented to the City Council in January 2025 as well as in the City Council’s Strategic Plan. Gun related offences, street spectating, and crimes committed with vehicles are challenges that exist in the community which can be addressed through the expanded use of technology. SoundThinking , Inc., offers two unique and integrated systems, ShotSpotter (gunshot detection) and PlateRanger (license plate recognition), to address community public safety concerns and serve as an investigative tool for law enforcement personnel.
RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL
1) Authorize the City Manager to execute Agreement File No. 1097 with SoundThinking Inc., in a form approved by the City Attorney; or
2) Alternatively, discuss and take other action related to this item.
FISCAL IMPACT
Agreement File No. 1097 is for three years with first year costs totaling $203,220.
Second- and third-year costs are $178,720 each. The first-year cost is higher as it accounts for installation of the various technology devices/hardware. Sufficient funding has been included in the approved FY25-27 Budget in Account No. 010-42054-2000.
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Staff Report– SoundThinking, Inc. – Agreement File No. 1097 July 14, 2025
DISCUSSION
The City Council provided direction during the Public Safety Assessment conducted in January 2025 to seek opportunities to capitalize on technology resources and how they can be incorporated into Bellflower’s public safety program. SoundThinking, Inc., offers two unique and integrated systems to address crime; ShotSpotter (gunshot detection) and PlateRanger (license plate recognition readers).
Between June 2023 - June 2025 there were 1401 calls to the Sheriff’s Department reporting illegal shootings and there were 6 calls for someone suffering from a gunshot wound. Responses to these types of incidents rely heavily on individuals to report them.
There is not a general conscious on the percentage of shooting calls which are not reported, but it is estimated 70% of incidents go unreported. ShotSpotter is used to identify the acoustic sounds of a gun being discharged, triangulate the sound, and provide deputies with an almost exact location of where the shooting occurred, all within seconds of a gun being discharged. ShotSpotter will be installed in two different 1 square mile areas of the City based on crime report data from the Sheriff’s Department. The deployment areas have not been selected but will be evaluated af ter execution of the agreement.
Vehicle related crimes are common. ALPR technology can be used to locate wanted vehicles, stolen vehicles, or used for investigative purposes by law enforcement. The PlateRanger system being proposed is a strategic project utilizing 40 ALPR cameras at various locations in the City. These ALPR’s would be in addition to 15 already functioning ALPR’s deployed in the City.
Public Safety and the desire to improve effectiveness of our Public Safety efforts was identified through the Strategic Plan and corresponding community survey as one of the City’s top priorities. The use of ShotSpotter and PlateRanger align with Strategic Plan Goal #1, Enhance Public Safety.
SoundThinking, Inc., provides a proprietary integration between its ShotSpotter and PlateRanger systems which includes, without limitation, ShotSpotter alerts triggering PlateRanger ALPRs in specified areas closest to the detected gunfire and notifies law enforcement of vehicle information and direction of travel of possible involved vehicles.
From an investigative use standpoint, the integration of technologies provides a powerful tool for law enforcement to leverage and gather timely data for gun related crimes. Due to the proprietary integration of these systems, this agreement is exempt from the bidding requirements in Bellflower Municipal Code 3.28.090(B).
1 Please note, not all calls for illegal shootings were related to gunshots, majority were firework related or unconfirmed with no witnesses or victims found. -2-