The city’s top watchdog issued a scathing report Tuesday that found ShotSpotter technology used by the Chicago Police Department rarely leads to investigatory stops or evidence of gun crimes and can change the way officers interact with areas they’re charged with patrolling.
The city’s Office of the Inspector General found that CPD data it examined “does not support a conclusion that ShotSpotter is an effective tool in developing evidence of a gun-related crime.”
While the acoustic gunshot detection system had already come under heavy fire amid a recent study and other reports challenging its efficacy and accuracy, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Supt. David Brown have continued to publicly support the department’s use of the technology.
“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,” said Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety Deborah Witzburg.
“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.”
The city’s three-year, $33 million contract with the Silicon Valley-based startup was initially supposed to expire last Thursday. But the deal was extended last December for two additional years at the request of the police department, according to Cathy Kwiatkowski, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Procurement Services.
The CPD’s use of ShotSpotter came under increased scrutiny following the death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was shot and killed in March by a Chicago police officer responding to an alert from the system. Toledo’s hands were empty when the fatal shot was fired, though he was seen on the officer’s body-worn camera holding a pistol a moment earlier.
Amid the mounting criticism, some Chicagoans have rallied for an end to the ShotSpotter contract, which activist Tynetta Hill-Muhammad claimed last Thursday was stretched out “under the cover of night,” without any public comment or notification to members of City Council.
A spokesperson for ShotSpotter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did police officials. But as recently as last week, police spokesman Tom Ahern defended the technology, saying it has “detected hundreds of shootings that would have otherwise gone unreported.”
“In order to reduce gun violence, knowing where it occurs is crucial,” Ahern said.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety, said he agrees with “some of the points made” by the inspector general and it’s a reason to look at how CPD uses ShotSpotter “with a more critical eye.”
But Taliaferro said it would be a grave mistake to get rid of the gunshot detection technology — because, he said, it saves lives.
“It’s worth the price for the lives that we are saving because ShotSpotter can be attributed to officers responding much more quickly to the scene to save lives. It’s not just about ISR’s [investigative stop reports] or arresting or reducing crime. We’re also saving lives. You cannot discount the lives being saved as a result of ShotSpotter,” said Taliaferro, a former Chicago police sergeant.
“I’m convinced because I’ve heard parents whose children have been saved that somehow attribute that to the quick response of officers in getting that particular person to the hospital. That officer got on the scene simply because ShotSpotter alerted them. … If ShotSpotter goes off and we can get officers on the scene to prevent further harm, then it saves lives. And that’s what’s important to me.”
Taliaferro noted big-city police departments are “moving toward more technology-based policing.” CPD cannot afford to be “left behind,” he said.
“L.A. uses highly advanced technology. New York uses highly advanced technology. Their crime seems to be reducing. We are starting to use high technology. We have to bring technology into policing these days. …. We’re not just in the business of arresting and reducing crime. We’re in the business of saving lives.”
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), former longtime chairman of the Council’s Police Committee, argued the problem is not ShotSpotter technology.
It’s the “handcuffs” Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Police Superintendent David Brown have placed on police by overhauling CPD policies on foot pursuits and vehicular chases, Beale said.
“The ShotSpotter is extremely valuable. However, in order for the technology to work, you have to have the police be able to pursue and go after the bad guys when they see or hear that the technology has pointed in a certain direction,” Beale said.
“The problem is when the police are no longer able to chase suspects … they’re gonna speed off in the cars and the police are told not to engage. If they’re in a car and running on foot and they’re told not to pursue, the technology would not be useful.”
He added: “We’ve caught people with ShotSpotter. The cameras turned in that direction. And we saw what car [the offender] got into. But, that was before the pursuit policy was put in place. It worked. But when you tell the police not to pursue, it’s not gonna work.
Instead of getting rid of ShotSpotter, Beale advised Lightfoot and Brown to “take the handcuffs off” officers, “let them do their job in an aggressive manner” and embark on a major hiring blitz to fill an alarming number of officer vacancies caused by a tidal wave of retirements.
“I’m hearing we’re gonna be down 1,500 by the end of the year,” Beale said.
