A Minneapolis City Council committee voted Monday to extend funding for the gunshot detection technology, ShotSpotter, until March 2026, one year less than proposed by public safety leaders.
The vote came after months of discussions about the technology, which has drawn criticism locally and nationally regarding its effectiveness, and its disproportionate impact on communities of color.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette wanted to fund the technology through March 2027. They also proposed expanding the technology into additional neighborhoods such as Uptown, Whittier, Loring Park and Lyn-Lake. The city currently employs ShotSpotter on the North Side and around the Phillips neighborhood.
The Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee also voted Monday to narrow the expansion to an area that borders Wards 6 and 7 near Loring Park that have been identified as a hotspot for gun violence. The committee’s vote acts as a recommendation to the full City Council, which will take a final vote on the matter next Thursday.
If the City Council votes to approve an amended contract to extend ShotSpotter, more than $422,000 would go toward continuing the technology.
The Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee recently approved hiring an independent group to evaluate ShotSpotter’s effectiveness in Minneapolis, and conduct an internal audit of the technology. The findings are expected to be completed in early 2026.
ShotSpotter was created by SoundThinking Inc., and uses acoustic sensors to identify potential gunshots fired in the city. The location of the possible shots is then relayed to law enforcement.
Minneapolis started using ShotSpotter in 2007. According to SoundThinking, ShotSpotter is used in more than 160 cities across the country. But some cities have recently discontinued the technology, citing concerns about its effectiveness.
Committee members differ on extending ShotSpotter
All six members of the Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee support ShotSpotter technology, but differed on how long to extend the contract and where it should be employed. Council members Robin Wonsley, Jeremiah Ellison, Katie Cashman and Aisha Chughtai voted to shorten ShotSpotter’s extension to 2026 and to limit where it will be installed.
Council members Linea Palmisano and LaTrisha Vetaw voted against the measures, saying they support extending it through 2027.
Ellison said that the new parameters will allow for a more “moderate timeline,” and give city staff time to continue evaluating the technology’s effectiveness before the city decides whether to extend it beyond 2026.
“I really see this as an opportunity for us, instead of turning this into a binary decision where you’re either for the technology or against the technology,” Ellison said.
Palmisano voiced concerns about low police staffing numbers in the city, and said ShotSpotter is a useful tool for law enforcement.
“I fail to understand why we need to go with a reduced model,” said Palmisano, who supports expanding it to more neighborhoods.
Palmisano had motioned for the committee to refrain from voting on reducing the technology’s funding and scope, and to instead table the discussion until it was brought before the entire City Council. The motion failed.
O’Hara told Sahan Journal after the meeting that he was glad the committee didn’t vote to completely end ShotSpotter. But, he said, it would have been best to broaden its expansion because gun violence can shift geographically.
“The reality today is, the distribution of gun violence in the city has changed quite dramatically since 2020,” O’Hara said.
ShotSpotter has faced criticism both locally and nationally in recent years.
Alexander Lindenfelser, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Law School and the Legal Rights Center, found that the technology disproportionately impacts communities of color. According to Lindenfelser’s research , Black and Native residents in Minneapolis are more likely to live near ShotSpotter sensors, leading to those populations being overpoliced.
During previous committee discussions, council members also expressed concern about the technology’s effectiveness, as it can mistake other loud noises such as fireworks or cars backfiring for gunshots.
Public safety officials have said the technology isn’t perfect, but is a helpful tool. O’Hara said ShotSpotter isn’t intended to solve the problem of gun violence, but it can help officers locate gunshot victims and collect evidence.
“That’s all really useful,” O’Hara said. “It’s difficult to show the value in that, because that’s not the data that shows up on an Excel spreadsheet.”
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