CHICAGO — Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown defended his department’s controversial ShotSpotter contract Monday, telling aldermen it’s an important “tool in our toolbox” despite studies that questioned the gunshot-detection system’s usefulness.
Appearing for his annual City Council budget hearing, Brown pushed back against aldermen who said the city should consider ending the deal after the MacArthur Justice Center and the city’s Office of the Inspector General reported that ShotSpotter rarely led to gun arrests and that police used the technology to justify stopping and frisking people.
“Gunshot detection technology has saved lives in the city of Chicago,” Brown said. “Officers have responded and found wounded persons, applied tourniquets. Officers have responded and confronted violent offenders.”
Despite criticism of ShotSpotter, the city extended its contract with the company this year until 2023, at a cost of about $7.7 million per year.
Southwest Side Alderman Michael Rodriguez, 22nd, pointed out the MacArthur report showed about 90% of ShotSpotter police deployments turned up no gun-related crime, and more than 80% resulted in no crime of any kind reported.
The contract was extended based on the amount of time the system is operational in several South and West Side police districts, how accurate the system is in locating the source of gunshots and how quickly an alert gets sent out about a possible gunshot.
But Rodriguez contended “none of these measures” is accurate, as it’s often unclear “whether an actual gunshot caused that alert versus something other than a gunshot.”
Brown also faced heat from aldermen over the overall rate of violent crime citywide.
“I feel like not enough people are engaged in this,” said Southwest Side Ald. Matt O’Shea, 19th. “This should be the No.-1 priority in the city right now for every single elected official. ... I’m just frustrated that I’ve heard so much fluff here today.”
The Police Department’s proposed budget is $1.9 billion for 2022, up from $1.7 billion this year.
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