{"id":4086,"date":"2022-10-05T06:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T06:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/2022\/10\/05\/shotspotter-in-the-news\/"},"modified":"2022-10-05T06:18:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T06:18:00","slug":"shotspotter-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/2022\/10\/05\/shotspotter-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"#StopShotSpotter: Detroit, Cleveland, Portland, Seattle, Dayton and a short reference list (UPDATED)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally written September 29; last updated October 5. \u00a0See the Updates<\/a> at the bottom.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We cannot ignore the fact that there’s no data that proves that ShotSpotter actually works…. I’ve asked (police) give me some data. Please. Don’t just be running around putting fear into people. Folks are scared to death in this city. They believe ShotSpotter is going to keep them safe. Lord knows it’s not going to happen. You make bad decisions out of fear.”<\/p>\n

Detroit City Council Member Mary Waters, quoted in Andrea May Sahouri’s reports in Amid intense debate, Detroit council again delays ShotSpotter expansion<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Chicago Police Department data examined by OIG does not support a conclusion that ShotSpotter is an effective tool in developing evidence of gun-related crime.<\/p>\n

\u2013 OIG Finds That ShotSpotter Alerts Rarely Lead to Evidence of a Gun-Related Crime and That Presence of the Technology Changes Police Behavior<\/a>, Chicago\u2019s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), 2021<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s no evidence that the gunshot detection at the heart of ShotSpotter’s “Precision Policing Platform\u2122” is effective. Even when it’s lucky enough to accurately detects that gunshots were fired, most of the time the results are like this recent report from Newark<\/a>: police responded, but found no reports of victims. As well as wasting time, these false positives increase the number of heightened and harmful interactions with police \u2013 like on October 4 in Peoria, when police killed Samuel V. Richmond while responding to a ShotSpotter alert<\/a>. \u00a0And since most ShotSpotter deployments are in Black, brown, and poor communities, guess who bears the brunt of this<\/a>? <\/p>\n

But commercial surveillance companies like ShotSpotter are very good at hyping their ineffective technology \u2013 and President Biden has encouraged cities to spend “leftover” pandemic relief funding on law enforcement. \u00a0So ShotSpotter is a very convienient way for city governments to claim <\/em>they’re doing something to address gun violence (as opposed to spend money on youth programs, jobs, housing, mental healthcare, or other investments that would actually have an impact). \u00a0As a result, ShotSpotter’s business continues to grow<\/a>. <\/p>\n

All across the country, local organizers are fighting back. \u00a0In July, a MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University\u2019s law school filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> against Chicago, on behalf of plaintiffs Michael Williams and Daniel Ortiz (both jailed as a result of ShotSpotter charges before being released). \u00a0And as Angrej Singh describes in Evaluating the Growing Movement to Stop ShotSpotter<\/a> on Tech Policy Press<\/em>, the broad coalition of groups in the #StopShotSpotter coalition<\/a> has now grown to about 20 cities.<\/p>\n

TAKE ACTION!
1. Sign the #StopSpotterCoalition petition<\/a>!
2. Look for local organizers and get involved!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So here’s some updates about recent ShotSpotter-related discussions around the country. \u00a0If you want to find out more, I’ve got a list of references at the end of the article. <\/p>\n

Detroit<\/h2>\n

So far, the favorite public comment today: <\/p>\n

“We don’t need ShotSpotter. We need poverty spotter and opportunity spotter.”<\/p>\n

\u2013 Tawana Petty of Algorithmic Justice League<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On September 27, pressure forced the Detroit City Council to defer a plan to expand ShotSpotter deploymen<\/a>t using $7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) pandemic-related funding. \u00a0However, the City Council approved a $1.5 million extension of the current ShotSpotter contract; and a future vote is expected on whether to fund the expansion from the police department’s budget. \u00a0At the October 4 meeting, the City Council once again delayed their vote on $7 million ShotSpotter contract<\/a>, as Briana Rice reports for Michigan Radio. \u00a0<\/p>\n

A letter<\/a> from the The #StopShotSpotterDetroit coalition (which includes We The People of Michigan, Detroit Will Breathe, Michigan Liberation, Detroit Action, Detroit Justice Center, Sassafras Tech Collective, Black Lives Matter Michigan, and ACLU of Michigan) goes into detail on the local context.<\/p>\n

TAKE ACTION:
Tell Detroit City Council: Say NO to Shotspotter and invest in Detroiters!<\/a>
(from We The People Michigan) <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Several opinion pieces with great perspectives:<\/p>\n