Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is butting heads with the City Council’s attempt to reinstate the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system.
ShotSpotter is a system that is used in cities across the country to detect and locate gunfire. When the acoustic system picks up a sound, an artificial intelligence (AI) analyzes the audio signature and alerts a human in a monitoring system. That human is supposed to verify that it is a gunshot that the system picked up and then dispatch police to the location of the detected sound. The system uses triangulation to determine the shot location.
ShotSpotter is controversial because of widespread reports of the system not working. In 2021, the Chicago Inspector General (IG) issued a report when the system was used in the Windy City that claimed 91% of all gunshots detected were false positives. Most gunshots were not gunshots at all. The system thought things like backfiring cars, fireworks, and construction were gunshots and set off the alarm. Chicago spent $33 million on the system when it was in use.
The report reads: “If the Department is to continue to invest in technology which sends CPD members into potentially dangerous situations with little information––and about which there are important community concerns–– it should be able to demonstrate the benefit of its use in combatting violent crime. The data we analyzed plainly doesn’t do that. Meanwhile, the very presence of this technology is changing the way CPD members interact with members of Chicago’s communities. We hope that this analysis will equip stakeholders to make well-informed decisions about the ongoing use of ShotSpotter technology.”
A 2024 report from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office also found the system unreliable. The system also failed in New York City. The New York Comptroller found that 87% of the ShotSpotter’s alerts were false alarms. New York City and Chicago aren’t alone in their belief that the system is flawed. Other cities like Atlanta and Portland have dropped the ShotSpotter system for giving too many false positives. ShotSpotter claims their system is 97% accurate, but according to the cities, this statistic isn’t remotely accurate.
ShotSpotter has also run into controversy for allegedly faking data for its clients. Vice News claimed that the company altered data to match police accounts. In Rochester, New York, police pulled over the wrong car while investigating a crime. Police fired on the vehicle, hitting the passenger, Silvon Simmons. The man survived the shooting, but police charged him with attempted murder for firing on the cops first, something that Simmons denied. The problem was that ShotSpotter only picked up the two rounds fired by police. Police would ask the company to “find” the other shots. The report was amended from two shots detected to seven.
Mr. Simmons pled not guilty. The police were unable to find any casings or any evidence that the man fired his gun. The only evidence was claims by the officers and the ShotSpotter data. All other evidence pointed to the man never firing his gun. When ShotSpotter was ordered to produce the audio files, that company claimed that they mysteriously lost the recordings. Mr. Simmons was found not guilty of all charges. This situation is one of many examples of the system not working or getting one charged for a crime they didn’t commit.
Last month, Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to veto the ordinance’s passage but did call it illegal. The mayor claims that it violates the separation of power. He argues that the City Council has no authority to remove the executive branch’s power to enter into or deny a contract with any specific vendor.
The City Council voted by a margin of 33-14 to grant the power to enter into a new contract with the embattled company to Police Superintendent Larry Snelling. Supt. Snelling is a staunch ShotSpotter supporter, even though statistics show the system delays 911 responses by tying police up on wild goose chases.
The ordinance attempted “to give procurement authority to a separate body, which is illegal,” Mayor Johnson said Wednesday.
“The procurement rests within the executive branch. To take that outside the executive branch is a dangerous precedent, because could you imagine that each entity had the ability, regardless of the executive authority, to just go into procurement with any entity?” Mayor Johnson continued.
The City Council refutes the mayor’s claims and says it has the authority to designate the power to the Snelling to sign the contract with ShotSpotter. The City Council has also used its power to hit back at the mayor. South Side Aldermen Anthony Beale (9th) used a parliamentary maneuver to send dozens of the mayor’s proposed ordinances to the City Council’s rules committee to be tabled. Aldermen Brian Hopkins (2nd) also called on the mayor to recognize the city council’s demands that the contract be signed.
“We could have overridden this mayoral veto, which would have been the strongest statement yet for the legislative will of the City Council,” Hopkins said. “ShotSpotter is in demand. We want it. We’re committed. We’re going to get it one way or another.”
This situation looks like the two sides are going to court. If it does, a judge might be the final arbiter of whether Chicago will dump millions of more dollars into the ShotSpotter technology, even with the concerns that the system doesn’t work most of the time.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
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