Chicago watchdog finds ShotSpotter 'rarely finds gun crime'
Chicago's Inspector General issued a report saying that the use of the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system by the city's police 'rarely produce[s] documented evidence of a gun-related crime, investigatory stop, or recovery of a firearm'. Having analysed 50,176 ShotSpotter notifications from January 2020 to May 2021, t he Inspector General concluded 'CPD responses to ShotSpotter alerts rarely produce evidence of a gun-related crime, rarely give rise to investigatory stops, and even less frequently lead to the recovery of gun crime-related evidence during an investigatory stop. ' The report also questioned the 'operational value' of the system and , based at least in part on aggregate ShotSpotter data, found that it increased the incidence of stop and frisk tactics by police officers in some neighbourhoods . The finding prompted was the Electronic Frontier Foundation to criticise ShotSpotter as 'a dangerous and humiliating intrusion on bodily autonomy and freedom of movement.' ➕ February 2024. Chicago announced it would not renew its three-year, USD 33 million contract with ShotSpotter and would stop using the system in September 2024. System 🤖 ShotSpotter Documents 📃 SoundThinking. Why the Chicago OIG Report is Misunderstood Operator: Chicago Police Department Developer: SoundThinking Country: USA Sector: Govt - police Purpose: Detect gunfire Technology: Gunshot detection system; Deep learning; Neural network; Machine learning Issue: Accuracy/reliability; Effectiveness/value; Robustness
- Date it happened
- 2021-01-01
- Organisation involved
- Chicago Police Department
- Product, system or model
- ShotSpotter
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