The Chicago Police Department will keep its access to the controversial ShotSpotter gunshot detection system after a last-minute deal Friday — hours before the contract was set to expire.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office hammered out a renewal to the nearly $49 million contract with ShotSpotter’s parent company, SoundThinking, to allow the police department to continue using the technology through Sept. 22, according to statements from the company and mayor’s office. The agreement also includes a two-month “transition period” after that date.
The police department will work to “revamp operations,” enact new training and “further develop response models to gun violence that ultimately reduce shootings,” before the contract ends in September, the mayor’s office said. Also before the new deadline, the department will issue recommendations after it works with violence prevention organizations and other stakeholders to assess “various tools, data and programs.”
The frantic negotiations between the city and company came after Johnson’s office announced Tuesday that he was keeping his campaign promise to cut the cord on ShotSpotter but keep it in place until September — after the city’s historically violent summer and the Democratic National Convention. But Johnson’s administration hadn’t yet struck a deal to keep ShotSpotter past Friday.
Johnson dodged questions at a City Hall news conference Thursday about whether ShotSpotter would be abruptly cut off when the existing contract expires. Hours later, SoundThinking indicated that a deal wasn’t in place and said company officials had been working for months to come to a new one.
As recently as December, SoundThinking presented the city with a proposal for a one-year extension, the company said in a statement. That led to “preliminary discussions regarding a concept proposed by the city of an 8-9 month extension,” enabling the city to complete a formal bidding process and evaluate the use of other gunshot detection technology.
“Contrary to those discussions and without consultation with SoundThinking … Mayor Johnson announced a decommission plan, involving an extension of ShotSpotter through September 22,” the company said.
The initial contract began in August 2018 and cost $33 million, and two extensions were valued at $5.7 million and $10.1 million, respectively. The terms of the new deal weren’t immediately known.
The company’s statement Friday also said it will “continue to collaborate with the Chicago Police Department to develop the best possible metrics and analytics to drive transparency and optimize reporting.”
ShotSpotter has previously received poor reviews, including one in May 2021 by the MacArthur Justice Center at the Northwestern School of Law which found that nearly 86% of police deployments to alerts of gunfire prompted no formal reports of any crime.
Another report that August by the city’s Office of the Inspector General concluded the technology rarely leads to investigatory stops or evidence of gun crimes.
Last week, the Sun-Times reported the Cook County state’s attorney’s office had conducted a review of ShotSpotter that found the technology had a minimal effect on prosecuting gun violence cases.
The statistics, compiled by the Chicago Police Department, show response times over the last six years were more than two minutes quicker with a ShotSpotter alert than the gunshot detection alert accompanied by a 911 call.
Votes on $70 million to help migrants and the bond issue to fund housing and economic development now are set for Friday. The Council was, however, poised to approve a slew of other measures.
By Fran Spielman
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The Police and Fire Committee approved an order championed by South Side Ald. David Moore that would empower the local alderperson to decide whether to keep ShotSpotter in their ward and prohibit the mayor from eliminating the technology in a ward where the local alderperson supports it without a full Council vote.
By Fran Spielman
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A City Council committee will consider an ordinance Monday that could let individual alderpersons decide whether to continue ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology in their wards.
By Fran Spielman
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Former Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, now president of the Civic Federation, told the Sun-Times that details of the new deal indicate the City Council ‘probably should be vetting and approving this thing’ and not ‘just sort of play along with the mayor.’
Chicago police initially claimed officers were fired upon by a man, but the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released information Tuesday indicating the person involved was a child and did not shoot at police.
By Sophie Sherry
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Mayor Brandon’s Johnson’s administration negotiated an extension under less favorable terms than the original deal, which could violate city code, sources say. But the city’s Law Department says “a myriad of code provisions” permit the mayor’s extension.
Johnson announced last week that the city planned to shut down the gunshot detection system after the historically violent summer months and the Democratic National Convention, making good on a key campaign promise.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office worked out a renewal to the nearly $49 million contract with ShotSpotter’s parent company, SoundThinking, through Sept. 22.
The current $49 million contract with ShotSpotter expires Friday, meaning the gunshot detection system that covers 12 of the city’s 22 police districts could be shut down as early as the end of the day.
ShotSpotter is bad enough to give it the ax now, yet good enough to keep around for another six months? Only in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s City Hall does this make sense.
If Johnson was so determined to honor his campaign promise to get rid of the controversial gunshot detection system, why did he wait until the last minute to timidly announce the decision?
After the Sun-Times first reported the decision, Johnson said the city will drop the gunshot detection system Sept. 22, meaning cops will have access to it throughout the summer and the Democratic National Convention.
Ralph Clark, CEO of ShotSpotter’s parent company, defended the controversial gunshot detection technology, saying the company guarantees at least 90% efficacy.
With Mayor Johnson on the clock to decide whether to renew the ShotSpotter deal, an internal document obtained by the Sun-Times underscores previous criticism that the technology is ineffective and too costly.
Studies show the gunshot detection technology has no crime reduction benefit, a University of Chicago professor writes.
By Robert Vargas
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A top mayoral aide said Johnson’s signature was unwittingly attached to a document authorizing the payment, which covered a contract extension approved by Lori Lightfoot.
The mayor will weigh all opinions on the controversial tech from a company whose contract ends next year, his adviser Jason Lee told the Sun-Times.
By Fran Spielman
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ShotSpotter has rebranded itself as SoundThinking, but it’s still a false solution to Chicago’s real problem with gun violence, activists write. Millions spent on the technology should go to violent prevention efforts.
By Sharah Hutson and
Alyx Goodwin
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The rebrand comes months after the city extended the company’s contract for a second time. Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson has vowed to end the deal.
By Tom Schuba
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A ShotSpotter spokeswoman said the multimillion-dollar deal was extended in October, the same month Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson declared his candidacy.
By Tom Schuba
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In high-crime communities, citizens stop calling 911 for every shooting. ShotSpotter lets officers respond quickly and possibly stop active shooters, help victims and apprehend suspects faster than if they had to wait for 911 calls.
By Letters to the Editor
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ShotSpotter — sold to police as an accurate and technologically-advanced law enforcement tool — has proven time and again to be less-than-advertised.
A report by a widely used gunshot detection firm says human employees are given broad discretion to decide whether a sound is a gunshot, thunder or nothing.
By Garance Burke | Associated Press and
Michael Tarm | Associated Press
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ShotSpotter came under increased scrutiny after a police officer fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo. In August 2021, the city’s Office of the Inspector General found the technology can change the way officers interact with areas they patrol.
By Jon Seidel
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