Chicago Advocates Demand New Solution to Replace Shotspotter in Crime Detection Efforts

CHICAGO (WLS) — A heated debate over public safety emerged at a recent Chicago City Council Committee meeting, with Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina taking aim at city officials for their handling of gunshot detection technology.

Father Pfleger, along with other concerned citizens, expressed frustration over the city’s failure to find a successor to the ShotSpotter system, which was previously used to detect gunfire and promptly alert law enforcement.

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Advocates, including those who have tragically lost children to gun violence, were vocal in their demand: if ShotSpotter cannot be replaced, it should be reinstated to aid in crime prevention.

The controversial gunshot detection system has been absent from Chicago’s crime-fighting toolkit for the past two years, leaving a void in the city’s approach to handling gun-related incidents.

In a recent statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson pointed to a University of Chicago study, indicating that the Chicago Police Department responded up to four times faster to some of the city’s most critical 911 calls in certain areas after the cessation of the ShotSpotter contract.

Despite this, proponents of the ShotSpotter system argue that public safety should not be compromised by political considerations, emphasizing the need for effective tools in combating crime.

“And so, the painful thing for families is, had somebody gotten there earlier, could that life have been saved?” Fr. Pfleger said.

“We have cameras and technology for red light cameras, we have it for school zone cameras, we have it for speed zone cameras, where people in our city get tickets every day in the mail because technology and camera has caught them and it costs them, so it must be some type of coincidence that one form of technology is making money, while this technology will cost money,” youth leader Lamar Johnson said.

Father Michael Pfleger also made a comment that he no longer calls 911 when he hears gunshots, because there’s no way to tell the exact location.

Wednesday morning, Mayor Johnson said his office has never stopped to process to find a replacement for Shotspotter.

“In every single neighborhood where that junk technology existed, violence has gone down and there has been a faster response from law enforcement and so the bottom line is this, the procurement process is ongoing, but what I’m not going to do, as mayor of Chicago, I’m not going to sell a bill of goods so that it can enrich the interests of corporations. I’m not going to do it.”

City Council is meeting Wednesday is this topic is on the agenda.