Disaster Chicago scraps gunshot detection system accused of racial bias - Where do the Democrats find these people?

Article (Archive)

Chicago will not renew its ShotSpotter contract and plans to stop using the controversial gunshot detection system later this year, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office announced on Tuesday.

The system, which relies on an artificial intelligence algorithm and network of microphones to identify gunshots, has been criticized for inaccuracy, racial bias and law enforcement misuse. An Associated Press investigation of the technology detailed how police and prosecutors used ShotSpotter data as evidence in charging a Chicago grandfather with murder before a judge dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence.

Chicago’s contract with SoundThinking, a public safety technology company that says its ShotSpotter tool is used in roughly 150 cities, expires on Friday. The city plans to wind down use of ShotSpotter technology by late September, according to city officials. Since 2018, the city has spent $49m on ShotSpotter.

“Chicago will deploy its resources on the most effective strategies and tactics proven to accelerate the current downward trend in violent crime,” the city said in a statement.

“Doing this work, in consultation with community, violence prevention organizations and law enforcement, provides a pathway to a better, stronger, safer Chicago for all.”

Johnson’s office said that during the interim period, law enforcement and community safety groups would “assess tools and programs that effectively increase both safety and trust”, and issue recommendations.

A SoundThinking representative did not have comment on Tuesday.

Johnson, a first-term mayor, campaigned on a promise to end the use of ShotSpotter, putting him at odds with police leaders who have praised the system.

They argue that crime rates – not residents’ race – determine where the technology is deployed.

“Technology is where policing is going as a whole. If we’re not utilizing technology, then we fall behind in crime fighting,” Superintendent Larry Snelling of Chicago police told the AP in an October interview. “There are always going to be issues. Nothing is 100% and nothing’s going to be perfect.”

Violent crime, including homicides and shootings, has largely fallen across the country to about the same level as before the pandemic, though property crimes have risen in some places. In Chicago, the downward trend of violent crime has continued at the start of 2024 with a 30% drop in homicides. There were 39 through last week compared with 56 during the same period last year.

Chicago police declined comment on Tuesday, directing questions to the mayor’s office.

Community public safety groups argued that the system sends police officers to predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods for often unnecessary and hostile encounters. Problems with accuracy, for instance when the technology has mistakenly identified fireworks or motorcycle sounds as gunshots, have prompted cities including Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Antonio, Texas, to end their ShotSpotter contracts.

The Stop ShotSpotter Coalition praised the announcement but said Chicago should stop using the technology sooner.

“Victims, survivors, their families and the communities with the highest rates of gun violence deserve more tangible support, resources and solutions that have been forgone due to investments in policing and technology that do not prevent or reduce violence,” the coalition said in a Tuesday statement.

 

[Flamin Park]

Tbf it's for a retarded reason but this panopticon police state garbage can fuck off

I don't want some cop with a double digit iq listening in to me 'for my own good'

 

[Troon_Patrol]

I remember reading an article about support for being against illegal immigration.

Latinos were like around 60 odd percent and then below them were niggers at around 48 percent.

So niggers basically hate illegals for stealing all the low income jobs but also want illegals coming in.

A completely cancerous lot in a nutshell that is allowed to fester because of white liberals desperate to believe that they can fix the nigger.

I recall maybe 20 years ago thinking:
Of all the black people who vote, the majority are working blue collar high wage union jobs. Things like certified ASE certified mechanics and such and for all the shit I talk about niggers I honestly feel like the ones who work 40+ hours a week and provide for a family do deserve kudos. I watched all the illegals entering the US triple every what like 5 years? Even as a young and naive man I understood the first lawful victims of the illegal immigrant issue would be the blue collar working class. The second generation of illegals would not hesitate to take the first blue collar job they could get, do it for half the price (if that) and especially considering they were anchor babies there was nothing lawfully stopping them from undercutting everyone, their fathers did the job for 25 cents on the dollar and never paid taxes on income, they wouldn't have any moral issues working a legit job for 50 cents on the dollar and dodging taxes as well, keeping up with the previous generation of welfare fraud and social program exploitation.

What I am trying to say is the middle class is being destroyed, specifically the lower middle class. I don't consider myself rich but, I have earned enough to do a hell of a lot better than the people I graduated HS with. I hope after the middle class has all but been completely destroyed and we only have the lower class and the rich two things will happen: My bloodline will fall under the category of "upper class" rather than "lower class" and I hope the last thought running through the head of every nog who voted for Biden is realizing they're grandson works minimum wages for a career today that would have been at least 75K yearly.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Best part of this, they wanted to keep it around through the summer for the DNC. Shot spotter told them no and its leaving Friday.

Got a source for that Friday departure? Seems likely since it's the contract end date but the city says they're winding it down September per the article. Have Shot Spotter told them minimum term for the contract or it's gone?

 

[Nol 2]

Got a source for that Friday departure? Seems likely since it's the contract end date but the city says they're winding it down September per the article. Have Shot Spotter told them minimum term for the contract or it's gone?

BJ says its in place till September, however there is currently no contract signed and neither party are actually confirming there's a deal in place. Seeing how he's been running the place, I have no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/uncertainty-remains-over-whether-shotspotter-will-remain-in-place-past-friday/3356551/

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

BJ says its in place till September, however there is currently no contract signed and neither party are actually confirming there's a deal in place.

Thanks
It'll make no difference to the DNC anyway since they'll be cracking down like a flipping police state when that happens but worth knowing.

 

[indomitable snowman]

On one hand lol, on the other, I think something like this is a 4th amendment violation. In either case Chicago can get fucked and live with the consequences.

 

[Nol 2]

Ignore what I said above, 8 hours later, looks like the call came in. Wonder how much this grandstanding cost?

https://x.com/MaryAnnAhernNBC/status/1758617976423494136?s=20

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Ignore what I said above, 8 hours later, looks like the call came in. Wonder how much this grandstanding cost?

https://x.com/MaryAnnAhernNBC/status/1758617976423494136?s=20

To September.

Sources say Shot Spotter will not turn off tonight. Negotiated a 7 month extension - with perhaps room for more time - “to wind down”

For those who don't know DNC convention is August 19th to the 22nd.

 

[clipartfan92]

Mayor Johnson spends $8.6 million on nine-month ShotSpotter deal — more than entire past year’s cost
Chicago Sun-Times (archive.ph)
By Tom Schuba and Fran Spielman
2024-02-23 01:00:16GMT

Spoiler

Mayor Brandon Johnson is spending $8.6 million to extend the city’s controversial deal with ShotSpotter for nine final months — shelling out significantly more than the city paid for the entire past year of service.

Johnson announced last week the city planned to shut down the gunshot detection system after the historically violent summer months and the Democratic National Convention, making good on a key campaign promise.

But the announcement caught ShotSpotter’s parent company, SoundThinking, off guard, sparking frantic negotiations resulting in a last-minute deal announced Feb. 16 — just hours before the contract was set to expire and the system could have gone offline.

In separate statements, SoundThinking and the mayor’s office ultimately said the technology would remain in place through Sept. 22, the date Johnson initially put forward to “decommission” ShotSpotter. That will be followed by a two-month “transition period.”

In the end, city officials rebuffed the company’s push for a one-year extension but effectively agreed to pay the full amount covering that period.

The new agreement is valued at over $8.6 million, 5% higher than for the entire year before.

Awarded in August 2018, the ShotSpotter deal is now valued at roughly $57.5 million. The city has so far paid out more than $36 million, with the latest payment of over $1 million coming Tuesday.

But with apparently no options left to renew the initial contract, it’s unclear if the new agreement will require City Council approval. The mayor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Police Supt. Larry Snelling — a noted ShotSpotter proponent — signed an agreement in October giving the department six months of free access to another SoundThinking product that helps investigators sift through data from other jurisdictions.

The following month, SoundThinking CEO Ralph Clark told investors he hoped that trial could lead to “a mid- or high- six figure transaction in the latter half of 2024,” according to South Side Weekly.

’This whole process has been challenging’
During a news conference after Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Johnson pegged the extension's cost at roughly $8 million without saying what he would have paid had he not announced his decision to terminate the contract before nailing down the terms.

Pressed to say what tipped the scales in favor of getting rid of the technology, Johnson cited a “series of investigations and reports” indicating ShotSpotter simply “hasn’t yielded the results that were promised.”

“It really came down to is it providing a real, true benefit which it promised to do? And unfortunately, report after report here in the city of Chicago has indicated otherwise,” Johnson said.

“We have to look very carefully at how the city of Chicago is appropriating dollars and whether or not there’s a benefit there,” he added. “And I just didn’t see enough evidence that there was a benefit.”

Gary Bunyard, SoundThinking’s vice senior president of sales, said “this whole process has been challenging in that the objectives of the city seem to be changing during this negotiation process.”

Bunyard said the company was “quite surprised” by Johnson’s announcement, which followed a Chicago Sun-Times report detailing his intention to cut off ShotSpotter after seven months. The company’s stock value tumbled afterwards, just as it had when Johnson was elected.

SoundThinking previously had said it spent much of last year trying to engage the city about a new deal and even sent a 12-month proposal last December.

That proposed memorandum of understanding ultimately led to “preliminary discussions” for an 8-to-9-month deal that would’ve allowed the city to initiate a formal bidding process for a new gunshot detection contract.

Company looks to prove its worth
SoundThinking holds that ShotSpotter saves lives and helps the police department quickly respond to shooting incidents.

Bunyard said the company hopes to work with the department to produce monthly statistics “showing the accuracy and the efficacy” of the technology, currently used in 12 of the department’s 22 police districts.

“We believe the data will show the value, the role we play in shoring up the gap in 911 [calls], in rendering aid to gunshot victims and helping the police department collect evidence,” he said. “But in order to do that, we need more data. We need a process in place that pulls this information from every district, every week and rolls it up on a monthly basis and makes it available to everybody who has an interest in this program.”

“That’s why we were requesting 12 months,” he added. “It’s going to take a while to get that all in place.”

A report issued by the city’s top watchdog in August 2021 acknowledged the “limitations in data quality and reporting” but also found that ShotSpotter has rarely led to investigatory stops or evidence of gun crimes.

It’s among the research that has raised serious alarms about the technology, which critics frame as a costly surveillance tool that has led to overpricing in minority communities.

SoundThinking is counting on the improved data collection to convince a majority of City Council members to overrule Johnson. That would seem to be a realistic goal if the police union’s staunchest supporters join forces with colleagues representing Black and Hispanic wards where violent crime is highest.

On Wednesday, Johnson was asked whether his mind was made up or whether he is open to changing his mind during the extension.

“This is a done deal. I’ve canceled ShotSpotter,” he said. “The point of this data collection … is more about how we build tools and systems to create safer communities.”

 

[MrJokerRager]

Mayor Johnson spends $8.6 million on nine-month ShotSpotter deal — more than entire past year’s cost

I guess his kike and AWFL donors called.

 

[William Tyndale]

Update: Chicago aldermen have voted to keep the shotpotter, with enough votes to override a veto, but the mayor still says he’s going to get rid of it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/city-council-votes-to-keep-shotspotter-but-mayor-brandon-johnson-insists-it-will-still-go-away/ar-BB1mSequ

 

[Dragged Into Sunlight]

Is the civilian version as good as the military version where it can tell the direction, distance, trajectory, elevation, etc of the shots? Or do they just alert that there were gunshots?

 

[pwnest injun]

Really, it's a waste of money. First, there's the cost of the system itself. And then there's the cost of sending out police and ambulance services. Then there's the medical bills that aren't going to be paid. And if they catch the perp, you have to pay to keep him imprisoned.

All of this for what? To delay TND? Pointless..

 

[William Tyndale]

Is the civilian version as good as the military version where it can tell the direction, distance, trajectory, elevation, etc of the shots? Or do they just alert that there were gunshots?

Read the article. They caught two kids who were shooting out of their car window. It triangulates the sound immediately and gives a precise location.

 

[Burd Turglar]

So now I, as a huwhite, can gun down blacks in the name of equality? Nice.

 

[Nod Flenders]

As we all know, 13 percent of the population commits 50 percent of the violent crimes. And Chicago is full of people who are part of the 13 percent.