CITY OF NEWBURGH – Newburgh’s City Council approved spending $351,000 on Monday to subscribe for 18 months to a system in which a California company installs audio sensors that alert police when gunshots are fired and quickly directs patrol officers to a precise location.

Under a resolution that received unanimous approval from the seven-member Council, Newark, Calif.-based SST Inc. will blanket three square miles of the 3.8-square-mile City of Newburgh with ShotSpotter, a system the company has deployed in over 90 cities worldwide, including New York City.

Newburgh police believe the system will not only solve the huge problem of unreported shootings, but will allow officers to respond so quickly that it will increase the chances they catch shooters or collect evidence like shell casings.

“A lot of families are hurting,” Councilwoman Hillary Rayford said of the families of shooting victims. “This device will help everyone.”

Newburgh’s administration is proposing to use a federal Community Development Block Grant to fund its subscription.

The decision to use city funds came after an application for federal funding was rejected.

If gunshots are detected, workers at SST’s operations center will relay the information – in about 30 seconds – to Newburgh’s police dispatch center and the on-board computers in patrol cars.

The system’s locating ability is accurate to within 10 feet, according to SST.

Even is no suspect is caught, collecting shell casings can help detectives link the weapons used to other cases, Newburgh police Lt. Richard Carrion told the Council during a presentation on the system last Thursday.

“It is an extremely important tool that we need,” Councilwoman Karen Mejia said.

Approval of the system comes less than five months after Keyshan Gayle, an 18-year-old who had just graduated from Newburgh Free Academy, was shot and killed on Fullerton Avenue on Aug. 30.

Two months later, two Newburgh women, including an NFA student, were shot and killed during a Halloween party on Broadway.

“A killer will think twice before committing a shooting,” Jennifer Bediako, Gayle’s mother, said Monday.

“We need to finally take a stand and protect our children and our community.”

lsparks@th-record.com