On August 12, 2014, during the nighttime hours, Somerville Police Lieutenant Carmine Vivilo and Officer Dan Rego, two of the police department’s firearm safety and firearm instructors were onsite and participated in a live-fire gunshot event at two undisclosed locations in the city to calibrate and test a new program called ShotSpotter. This equipment was funded through the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, Department of Homeland Security collaboration.

The controlled tests consisted of a sequence of 12 gunshot sounds at each location. The bullets were fired into a bullet trap and no bullets were fired into the air to ensure public safety.

“Safety in our neighborhoods is a priority. Although there have been relatively few gunshot incidents in Somerville, the ShotSpotter program will assist officers response time to any such incident and increase weapons-related arrests,” said Somerville Interim Police Chief Charlie Femino.