CHICAGO (WLS) — The City of Chicago decided to terminate its agreement with ShotSpotter almost two years ago, citing concerns over its effectiveness and the unnecessary drain on police resources.
Despite assurances of finding a substitute, the search continues, leaving those convinced of its utility in crime prevention increasingly frustrated.
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Over a year ago, during a city meeting, officials revealed that nine different companies had submitted proposals in response to Chicago’s request for an alternative to the contentious ShotSpotter system. Mayor Brandon Johnson had once famously likened it to “a walkie talkie on a stick.”
As of now, no alternative has been chosen, causing growing impatience among many Chicago City Council members who advocate for the implementation of such technology.
“We need to either push forward with a new gunshot detection system or be straightforward with the public and have the mayor declare, ‘I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want it,'” stated Ald. Brian Hopkins, Chairman of the Public Safety Committee.
Johnson has brushed off pressure to make a decision, pointing to the city’s violent crime data since the contract’s cancellation.
“In every single neighborhood where that junk technology existed, violence has gone down, and there has been a faster response from law enforcement,” Johnson said.
The mayor attributed those faster response times to a University of Chicago study that compared the six months prior to ShotSpotter’s cancellation with the six months after. What the study did not do was include responses to gunshot incidents.
Appearing before the city council on Tuesday, the study’s author indicated that he never meant to imply that one thing had anything to do with the other.
“A single before and after comparison cannot carry that weight. But what I can tell you is that the predicted catastrophe of slower response times and more death did not arrive,” said University of Chicago Professor Robert Vargas.
But even as the mayor has indicated that his office supports finding a replacement, his allies in the city council loudly questioned the need for any gunshot detection technology at all on Tuesday.
“If we are going to be investing millions of dollars in a technology, we have to have clarity on, what is it that we want this technology to do and if this technology is proven to do that,” said 33rd Ward Ald. Rosanna Rodríguez-Sánchez.
Under the rules, the city’s Procurement Department has until next February to make a selection. Hopkins, who also chairs the public safety committee called on them to get it done within the next 90 days.
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