Navigating Criminal Investigations on Campuses

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Campus law enforcement teams face unique challenges when violence strikes: incidents unfold rapidly; eyewitness reports can be incomplete or delayed, and key evidence, like where shots were fired or how suspects fled, can be difficult to obtain. Modern campus safety isn’t just a law enforcement challenge; it’s also a systems challenge that involves technology, accelerating response times, improving communication, and strengthening investigations. That’s where an integrated set of technologies like  ShotSpotter®, PlateRanger and CrimeTracer™ Gen3 come together to power faster detection, deeper insight, and smarter case outcomes.

Real-Time Detection with ShotSpotter

When gunfire erupts, every second matters. ShotSpotter® is an acoustic gunshot detection system that detects and locates outdoor gunfire within seconds, enabling campus security and local law enforcement to respond immediately with precise location data. Rather than waiting for delayed 9-1-1 calls, ShotSpotter provides verified alerts with exact GPS coordinates, the number of shots fired, and incident context in less than a minute, boosting situational awareness, enhancing officer safety, and reducing the gap between an incident occurring and a tactical response.

Beyond immediate response, ShotSpotter’s forensic services deepen investigative value. Experts analyze acoustic data to produce court-admissible reports that clarify shot sequences, timing, and trajectories, helping investigators reconstruct events and support prosecutions or compliance reporting.

Vehicle Intelligence with PlateRanger

Many campus crimes involve vehicles, whether a suspect arrives, flees, or moves between scenes. PlateRanger delivers AI-driven license plate and vehicle recognition that captures plate numbers, vehicle make/model, color, and direction of travel. This real-time vehicle intelligence enriches investigations by transforming ordinary cameras into powerful data collectors, whether mounted in fixed locations or operated via smartphones in the field.

Once collected, PlateRanger reads become critical investigative leads: they help identify suspect vehicles quickly, trace movement patterns around a scene, and provide insights that eyewitness reports alone often miss. Used widely across campus perimeters and adjacent roadways, PlateRanger builds a timeline of vehicle activity connected to key events.

 Expedited Case Development with CrimeTracer 

A license plate hit or a gunshot alert is only as useful as the intelligence that surrounds it. CrimeTracer Gen3 is a law-enforcement search engine that turns disparate data into a unified investigative picture. It links more than a billion CJIS-compliant records—including RMS reports, CAD data, warrants, court records, and partner data sources—into one searchable platform accessible to patrol officers, analysts, and investigators.

By integrating PlateRanger reads and ShotSpotter alerts into CrimeTracer, campus investigators can instantly correlate vehicle data with people, prior incidents, and contextual records. For example, a PlateRanger hit on a suspect vehicle near a shooting scene can be searched in CrimeTracer to uncover prior contacts, arrest records, field interview logs, or BOLOs, turning raw reads into actionable leads.

Features like natural-language search, entity summaries, and patrol dashboards streamline workflows so officers can surface insights faster without jumping between disconnected systems. CrimeTracer eliminates manual data wrangling, reduces investigative delays, and empowers teams to act confidently on intelligence.

A Unified Investigative Ecosystem

Separately, each technology delivers value. ShotSpotter pinpoints gunfire moments after they occur.  PlateRanger converts cameras into vehicle intelligence sources. CrimeTracer turns scattered data into comprehensive insight. Together, they form a unified investigative ecosystem that:

  • Detects threats in real time—far faster than human reports alone.
  • Links vehicles to investigations and people with deep cross-jurisdictional insight.
  • Turns data into leads instantly, speeding case development, investigation and evidence gathering.
  • Supports compliance and transparency through precise records and robust forensic reporting.

For campus public safety teams, this means not just better responses but smarter, evidence-driven investigationswhether confirming what happened during a shooting, tracking suspects through vehicle intelligence, or building cases that hold up in court. Together, ShotSpotter, PlateRanger, and CrimeTracer empower campus officers to protect students and staff more effectively, build stronger cases more quickly, and strengthen community trust through data-driven accountability.

Schedule a Demo to See How ShotSpotter, PlateRanger, and CrimeTracer Can Work Together To Protect Your Campus

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Author Profile
Cindy Guerra
Cindy Guerra joined the Chicago Police Department in 1994 until her retirement in 2021 where she held...Show More
Cindy Guerra joined the Chicago Police Department in 1994 until her retirement in 2021 where she held the rank of Lieutenant. Most recently, she held the role of Interim Chief of Police at Northeastern Illinois University. During her tenure, Cindy worked in multiple capacities including the Gang Unit, Mounted Unit, Asset Forfeiture, and News Affairs.Show Less
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