Procurement Delays Halt Search for New Gunshot Detection Tech in Chicago

Nearly two years ago, the City of Chicago severed its ties with ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection technology, amid criticism that it was ineffective and led to police squandering precious resources. In the wake of this decision, city officials promised to find a substitute that could better serve the community’s needs in combating crime.

However, the search for an alternative solution is still dragging on, much to the dismay of those who believe in the necessity of such technology. Over a year ago, during an official meeting, it was revealed that nine vendors had shown interest in replacing the contentious ShotSpotter system, which Mayor Brandon Johnson once colorfully described as “a walkie talkie on a stick.”

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Despite this interest, the city has yet to select a new vendor, leaving several members of the Chicago City Council, who advocate for the technology’s use, feeling frustrated and impatient.

Public Safety Committee Chairman Alderman Brian Hopkins expressed his dissatisfaction with the delay, stating, “Either we get the ball moving again, and we get a new gunshot detection system out there, or let’s just be honest with people and have the mayor say, ‘I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want it.'”

Meanwhile, Mayor Johnson has resisted the growing pressure to expedite the decision, instead highlighting the city’s violent crime data since the termination of the ShotSpotter contract as a reason for his measured approach.

Johnson has brushed off pressure to make a decision, pointing to the city’s violent crime data since the contract’s cancellation.

“In every single neighborhood where that junk technology existed, violence has gone down, and there has been a faster response from law enforcement,” Johnson said.

The mayor attributed those faster response times to a University of Chicago study that compared the six months prior to ShotSpotter’s cancellation with the six months after. What the study did not do was include responses to gunshot incidents.

Appearing before the city council on Tuesday, the study’s author indicated that he never meant to imply that one thing had anything to do with the other.

“A single before and after comparison cannot carry that weight. But what I can tell you is that the predicted catastrophe of slower response times and more death did not arrive,” said University of Chicago Professor Robert Vargas.

But even as the mayor has indicated that his office supports finding a replacement, his allies in the city council loudly questioned the need for any gunshot detection technology at all on Tuesday.

“If we are going to be investing millions of dollars in a technology, we have to have clarity on, what is it that we want this technology to do and if this technology is proven to do that,” said 33rd Ward Ald. Rosanna Rodríguez-Sánchez.

Under the rules, the city’s Procurement Department has until next February to make a selection. Hopkins, who also chairs the public safety committee called on them to get it done within the next 90 days.