The public deserves two things in the wake of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s move Tuesday to cancel the city’s ShotSpotter contract: a clear-as-crystal answer as to why he thinks the pricey system is ineffective — and a suitable replacement for the gunfire-detection technology that the city’s top cop favors.
Instead, Chicagoans received yet another one of those muddled and maddeningly contradictory “solutions” that have become so typical of the Johnson administration.
The mayor said he is ditching ShotSpotter when the city’s $49 million contract ends Friday — but will keep the technology in place through Sept. 22, through a new contract in order to aid crime fighting efforts through the summer and during the high-profile Democratic National Convention in August.
That makes ShotSpotter simultaneously bad enough to get rid of now, and yet good enough to keep around for another six months. Only in Johnson’s City Hall does this make sense.
Ineffective, but also lifesaving?
Johnson campaigned for mayor with the promise of ending the SpotShotter contract — and not totally without reason.
With high-tech audio monitors, the technology was successfully pitched to Chicago and other municipalities as being able to hear gunshots with 97% accuracy and immediately summon police.
But a 2021 study by MacArthur Justice Center researchers found 40,000 ShotSpotter alerts between July 2019 and April 2021 resulted in no report being filed by responding officers. And only 10% of the alerts likely involved guns.
In fact, during a 2017 attempted murder case in San Francisco, a ShotSpotter forensic analyst testified that his company’s accuracy computations did not come from engineers, but from the corporation’s sales and marketing department.
The Chicago Inspector General’s Office has also questioned ShotSpotter’s effectiveness, finding the technology rarely leads to investigatory stops or evidence of gun crimes.
For its part, SoundThinking, the company that owns ShotSpotter, says the devices in Chicago have saved more than 125 lives and led to the recovery of 3,000 illegal guns and more than 25,000 pieces of evidence.
And Johnson’s own hand-picked top cop, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling, has been a big ShotSpotter supporter. Last month, he called it a crucial tool in addressing gun and gang violence.
“Because of this technology, officers have been able to get to scenes quicker and do outstanding work that people don’t even know they do,” Snelling told attendees in a community meeting, according to Block Club Chicago.
SoundThinking’s figures certainly shouldn’t be taken as gospel. But Snelling and other proponents, like 29th Ward Ald. Chris Taliaferro, clearly see value in ShotSpotter that Johnson, and the activists who pushed to get rid of it, do not — and the views of proponents, especially when it comes to addressing crime in communities where gunfire is common and residents hesitate to call police, surely ought to be taken into account. Perhaps there’s a way to improve how the technology is used, instead of dumping it altogether. Sept. 22 is just months away.
In any case, the public, who have already paid millions for ShotSpotter, deserve answers.
What’s next?
What will replace ShotSpotter once the contract ends in September? And what’s the plan for all those strategic centers scattered throughout police districts across the city, each with the equipment and personnel that are now being fed ShotSpotter information?
The mayor’s office says, “law enforcement and other community safety stakeholders will assess tools and programs that effectively increase both safety and trust, and issue recommendations to that effect.”
That’s so much word salad, it should’ve been served with a pepper grinder and breadsticks.
To get rid of a thing without having something on deck to replace it, especially given the police superintendent’s vocal support of the technology, is bad policy and a recipe for failure.
It also reinforces the concern that Johnson and his administration are out of their depth when it comes to addressing the city’s crime problems.
Chicagoans need real answers and solutions. The mayor wanted to keep a campaign promise, but the far more important goal is to keep Chicagoans safe.
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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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