A police reform group has stated that the cameras cops are using to automatically detect, and report gunshots should be taken down.
Campaign Zero is convincing local city governments to stop using the tech, called ShotSpotter, after a year-long study. Their argument is that ShotSpotter doesn’t massively reduce gun violence, rarely leads to physical evidence a gun was fired, increases the likelihood of police violence, and costs taxpayers millions.
The evidence appears to support Campaign Zero’s allegations.
Just last month a local Massachusetts school was temporarily put into a full lockdown after ShotSpotter was alerted by fireworks rather than gunshots. In 2021, Chicago’s Inspector General published a report finding ShotSpotter only results in physical evidence of a gun crime about 9 percent of the time. Another Chicago study showed that 86 percent of ShotSpotter alerts led to no report of any crime at all, despite every sound being manually reviewed by a human before police deployment.
“There is zero data supporting the claim that ShotSpotter puts police on higher alert than a 911 call and, thus, creates dangerous situations,” a spokesperson said in a statement made to Axios.
Yesterday, A Durham, NC council member summed it up in yesterday’s interview about the faulty tech published in Indy Week. “What ShotSpotter is effective at is manufacturing consent for increased policing,” Jillian Johnson told the pub. “It increases the number of times that police are called.”