Bellport gets funds for gunshot detector

Thanks in part to a $120,000 gift from an anonymous donor, Bellport has secured enough funds to purchase the ShotSpotter high-tech crime-fighting system, which it hopes will help Suffolk police reduce crime in the area, officials and community leaders said Friday.

The groups announced that they have gathered enough funds to buy the $200,000 system for the northern section of Bellport, and now will need an appropriation of $20,000 a year for maintenance approved by the Suffolk County Legislature and Suffolk Executive Steve Levy. The other $80,000 they obtained came through the Greater Bellport Coalition.

"It's a home run or at least a triple, and we need some help" from the county to bring the project to fruition, said county Legis. Jack Eddington (I-Medford), who helped lead efforts to secure the system.

Bellport community leader Anthony Gazzola of the South Country Community Conference said, "It's nice to know somebody somewhere felt concerned enough about the young kids in this neighborhood to donate $120,000."

Levy did not say specifically if he will support the project, saying through spokesman Dan Aug that "we will take a close look at the details of Legislator Eddington's proposal."

The county is already implementing the ShotSpotter technology in Huntington Station as a pilot project, and Levy has said he wants to see if it works. Eddington said he hopes Levy will allow the project in Bellport to start in the meantime.

Eddington said he plans to introduce legislation this month in the county legislature to approve the funds.

ShotSpotters use computerized sound sensors to detect gunshots, pinpointing the origin to within about 80 feet and sending an immediate alert to the local precinct, according to the manufacturer's website. The system in Bellport will cover a 1-square-mile area.

Although North Bellport residents have wanted the system, Suffolk police have said other communities had greater crime problems, including Huntington Station, Wyandanch and North Amityville.

The system has been used in places including upstate Rochester, Minneapolis, Gary, Ind., and Los Angeles, Eddington said. Nassau County has also implemented the system, which police there credit with speeding up medical care for the wounded, helping cops more quickly identify witnesses, and hastening the capture of shooters - particularly when no one calls 911.

The system was installed in July 2009 in Roosevelt and Uniondale - areas where the most guns were being confiscated, county officials said.

Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Connie Kepert, who has also backed the North Bellport project, said the community is among the poorest on Long Island and needs the ShotSpotter to help reduce crime.

Other communities in Suffolk have also requested the system, including North Amityville and Wyandanch.

Eddington said there were 15 gun crimes in nine months in 2010 in Bellport, according to Suffolk police statistics, and that he believes other incidents go unreported.