OP ED: Letter In Support Of ShotSpotter (By Former Durham Mayor William V. “Bill” Bell)

I did not attend the Durham City Council meeting on December 19, 2023, nor did I watch it on YouTube. Unfortunately, for me and many others, the absence of SPECTRUM not broadcasting City  Council and County Commissioner meetings, in my opinion, is a vast disservice to the community it is supposed to serve. I was a Durham County Commissioner when we gave the license to Durham Cable TV to serve our community, and I was a strong advocate for having our meetings broadcast free on the cable network. It proved to be extraordinarily successful in keeping the community informed, especially for those who could not attend the public meetings.  Many may not know that, before I became Chairman of the Durham Board of County Commissioners, the County Commissioner meetings were during the day at 10:00 am. That changed when I became Chairman in 1982.

When I was Mayor in my later years, when ShotSpotter was being made available to communities, I was a strong advocate for ShotSpotter as another tool for law enforcement to use in solving and reducing gunshot-related violence. I had decided not to run for re-election in 2017 and was not able to get ShotSpotter installed before I left the office. Had I run and been re-elected, I would have still been a strong advocate and would have worked to get it installed to assist in solving and reducing crime, especially those crimes committed with guns. I was glad to see that the new  2001 City Council adopted ShotSpotter as a tool with an even better agreement than was proposed when I was advocating for it to be used. 

I was deeply disappointed when the DPS refused to allow it to be installed on some of their sites. My company permitted it to be installed on one of our buildings at Old North Five Points. Prior to it being installed, we had a person shoot into one of our buildings from across the street, and fortunately no one was present in the building, otherwise there could have been serious injuries. I am sure that had ShotSpotter been installed the police would have been notified immediately.

I wonder how many of those persons who complain of ShotSpotter being a tool that constitutes over-policing of Black and Brown Communities actually live and work in those Communities and are exposed to needless and senseless gunfire?

I appreciate that a study is being conducted by the “Duke Law School’s Wilson Center for Science and Justice” on the results of the one-year pilot period. I await the results of that study.

In the end, the price of ShotSpotter is a small price to pay if it, in fact, saves lives and prevents further injuries from gunshots.

When I was Mayor, I constantly said “Good Things are Happening in Durham.” Our ability as a city to do more than one thing at a time to address our issues was why “Good Things Were Happening in Durham.” The same thing can be said of applying ShotSpotter, as well as the use of other community crime-reducing tools and programs. The use of ShotSpotter is not mutually exclusive to other programs

While I was not in agreement with many of the votes taken by the previous City Council, I always maintained an open mind and gave credit for those votes that I thought were positive for the overall community.

A vote for SHOTSPOTTER would be one of those positive votes.

WILLIAM V. ”BILL” BELL

Former Durham Mayor (2001 – 2017)

Former Durham County Commissioner ( 1972 – 1994; 1996 – 2000) 

Former Chairman  Durham County Commissioner (1982 – 1994)