Some people usher in the New Year by firing guns into the air, and that means police will be busy looking for such gunfire as the clock nears midnight. Stockton has made inroads in reducing the dangerous celebration.
The City of Stockton has seen the second largest decline in the nation in New Year’s Eve gunfire two years in a row.
That’s according to ShotSpotter which monitors illegal gunfire.
Last New Year’s Eve the number of incidents dropped from 84 to 39, more than a 50 percent reduction.
Stockton Police Community Service Officer Rosie Calderon says special patrols will be out in force on Saturday night.
“ShotSpotter will determine whether this is actually a firearm being discharged or fireworks, so it should record the number of shots and it can pinpoint an exact location so that we can dispatch officers to that location right away,” says Calderon.
Last New Year’s Eve a Stockton police officer suffered a minor wound when a bullet ricocheted off his patrol car, hitting him in the leg.
New Year’s Eve remains the busiest night of the year for illegal gunfire.
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