ShotSpotter Contract to Be Annulled
Recently, news about the city of Chicago ShotSpotter contract will officially end this Friday. Mayor Brandon Johnson stated that he ended this contract with the owner “SoundThinking”. Even though the contract will not be renewed, this program will continue to be available until September 22. Officers will continue to have access to this until then. Meanwhile, Mayor Johnson will continue to asses other ways to prevent gun violence and add more laws to gun usage. He stated that the Chicago Police Force will also need to go through more training when it comes to gun violence response.
Mayor Johnson had stated before he took on the mayor position, that he would indeed cancel the 33-million-dollar contract with SoundThinking. This shows that he was planning to this all along. He said his reasoning for this was because he wanted to invest more resources in helping ban the use of illegal guns. Around August of 2021, a report was made to the Chicago Police Department had serious questions about whether they should continue using ShotSpotter. The report questioned the efficiency of the officers’ responses to this technology. However. the CPD has always loved and believed in this system. It gets officers to the scene of the crime at a faster rate than waiting for a gunfire 911 call.
What Is a ShotSpotter?
This famous device is a gunfire detector which has been used in the city of Chicago since 2018. The point of this device is to alert the police department of a gun fight happening as soon as it happens. This way, the police can arrive at the scene of the crime as soon as they can and waste less time. Usually, the old way was to wait for someone to call the police and report the gunfire. However, they realized that this takes too long for them to successfully arrest anyone involved. Unfortunately, the city has stated that the ShotSpotter is too costly and does not entirely work. This is why it is being cancelled.
“Moving forward, the City of Chicago will deploy its resources on the most effective strategies and tactics proven to accelerate the current downward trend in violent crime,” Stated the city of Chicago.
Written by Erika Cano
Sources:
ABC 7 Chicago: Chicago will not renew controversial ShotSpotter contract
Fox 32 Chicago: Chicago will not renew ShotSpotter contract
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