SAN JOSE — San Jose State University is adding gunshot detection microphones to its security infrastructure as part of a broader series of surveillance upgrades in the coming months.

The move sounds unusual given the technology is typically deployed in areas that see frequent gunfire, but it’s apparently a throw-in with a security camera system currently being installed throughout the campus.

Also tossed into the deal? Sensors that can identify a leak of harmful chemicals like chlorine or natural gas.

“The cameras came with these extra bells,” University Police Capt. Alan Cavallo said. “It’s another layer of security.”

He noted that the gunshot-detection function likely won’t be live until January. The devices are attuned to the specific sound of gunfire and use algorithms to pinpoint its location on or in the vicinity of the downtown San Jose campus.

Once a shooting is detected, the police watch commander and on-duty officers will receive emergency alerts on their smartphones that will direct them to the source, Cavallo said.

The gunshot detection, which is installed in Bay Area cities including Oakland and Richmond, are intended to speed up police response to violent incidents that otherwise rely on 911 calls to be known to first responders.

Cavallo said while they are rare, university police have periodically responded to shootings near the perimeter of the campus.

“If we were to have a worst-case scenario, it’s going to alert us before someone calls in,” he said. “We want to be the first ones there rather than the third, fourth, or fifth ones there.”

Cavallo noted that gunshot detection is not a “panacea” for crime issues given that it’s a reactive system, which is why he sees the new tech as part of a larger outlay that includes the blue emergency phones placed throughout campus, nighttime security escorts and new cameras installed in the university’s parking garages.

Vanessa Mendoza, a 20-year-old sociology student, says the pending security upgrades are modestly reassuring, but that her sense of personal safety on campus has lately been more affected by news of a recent sexual harassment scandal involving a professor.

“I feel like the cameras, they’ll help a little bit with safety if something were to ever happen,” she said. “But I don’t feel too safe here downtown.”

The camera-gunshot-detection-chemical-detection system is manufactured by Fremont-base V5 Systems, and San Jose State helped beta-test the system after finding appeal in its portability. The installations can easily be transported between different locations based on security needs.

The initial installation will include 10 devices at an estimated $12,000 apiece.

Cavallo added that some of the cameras are equipped with artificial intelligence that could alert police in instances like someone is traversing the campus at an odd hours.

“We’re just scratching the surface,” he said.