FREMONT, Calif. (WTVO) — ShotSpotter, the company whose A.I. assisted listening systems are able to detect the sounds of gunshots to assist police, has rebranded itself.

According to a press release on Monday, the parent company is changing its name to SoundThinking, meant to reflect “the company’s focus on public safety through industry-leading law enforcement tools and community-focused solutions for non-law enforcement entities to utilize for a holistic approach to violence prevention, social services and economic assistance.”

“ShotSpotter established the acoustic gunshot detectiton category more than 25 years ago,” said SoundThinking CEO Ralph Clark. “As the public safety landscape has evolved, we have evolved with it. In a time of rising crime, police staffing shortages, and the need for greater transparency and accountability, we are offering a platform of data-driven technologies that can make the policing profession better by helping law enforcement improve their community partnerships and above all, protect residents in the community. 

The company will now offer four tools for law enforcement, including ShotSpotter, CrimeTracer, CaseBuilder and ResourceRouter.

ShotSpotter technologies were adopted in Rockford in 2017.

ShotSpotter technology uses small audio sensors placed throughout the city to triangulate the sound of gunfire and pinpoint the number of shots fired at that location.

The benefit is that it allows officers to respond to a location sometimes before a crime is called in.

A recent report questioned the role humans play in the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system.

The Associated Press obtained a confidential operations document from the company, which revealed that humans have the ultimate call in deciding whether the sounds picked up by the listening devices are gunshot or other noises, such as fireworks.

The document showed that human operators overrule and can reverse the artificial intelligence-powered algorithm’s determination in about 10% of cases, which experts say could bring subjectivity into increasingly consequential decisions and conflict with one of the reasons AI is used in law-enforcement tools in the first place — to lessen the role of all-too-fallible humans.

ShotSpotter technology is used in 140 cities in the U.S, including Rockford, as a crime-fighting tool.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.