ShotSpotter and its supporters have an opportunity to build their case that this is an essential contribution to the city’s safety.
The flipping and flopping on ShotSpotter, over a period of weeks, was hardly Johnson’s finest episode as mayor, to put it mildly. But just as good intentions sometimes go awry, bungled missteps can turn to the city’s advantage. Perhaps that could still happen with ShotSpotter.ShotSpotter is designed to use microphones in city neighborhoods and computer algorithms sourced from strategic response centers to “hear” gunfire in the streets and dispatch police to the scene.
Chicago also has close to 50,000 closed-circuit surveillance cameras — or just under 2 for every 100 residents, the sixth-highest concentration in the country, according to Comparitech, a technology research firm. Information about the effectiveness of this densely concentrated web remains shrouded in mystery.
ShotSpotter so far stands as yet another example of how tools can be adopted and entrenched, despite results that fall far short of what’s needed: Even when Johnson tried to quit the system, he couldn’t quite commit. The sales pitch has earned ShotSpotter contracts in about 150 cities nationwide. But a steady stream of government oversight and investigative reports has raised legitimate doubts.
Nongovernmental studies have been negative on ShotSpotter, too. The MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law found that in, police found no evidence of a gun-related crime, and 86% of alerts led to no charges at all. That’s better than Foxx’s reported findings but still woefully short of expectations.
There are plenty of public safety advocates who argue that ShotSpotter, whatever its flaws, is better than no high-tech, gun-crime detection at all. Last month, as Johnson was moving to cancel the contract, an argument emerged that ShotSpotter had saved lives by calling police and medical help to the aid of shooting victims who might have died but for the ShotSpotter alert.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Johnson says he expects ShotSpotter to remain through September, but dodges contract questionsMayor Brandon Johnson repeatedly refused to say if the company’s operators had agreed to the contract extension needed to keep the police tool running.
Read more »
Chicago's ShotSpotter contract to end Friday; unclear what happens thenChicago's ShotSpotter contract to end Friday; unclear what happens then
Read more »
Johnson remains vague on ShotSpotter's fate as contract expiresThe debate over Chicago's controversial gun detection system known as ShotSpotter appears to be moot Thursday as the contract expires in just hours.
Read more »
Editorial: ShotSpotter disaster only the latest example of mayoral incompetenceIt’s been nine months since Brandon Johnson became mayor of Chicago. It only seems far longer. Spirited debates over policies, though, are part of the normal back-and-forth of political life. Our b…
Read more »
City of Chicago extends contract with ShotSpotter through SeptemberThe City of Chicago has extended its contract with ShotSpotter, just hours before it was set to expire.
Read more »
ShotSpotter extended as company and Johnson reach agreementMayor Brandon Johnson announced the gunshot detection system will stay into next fall.
Read more »