Prominent alder optimistic City find replacement for now defunct ShotSpotter

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - The head of the Chicago City Council’s Budget Committee says he's encouraged that the Johnson administration's search for new technology and replacement for the decommissioned ShotSpotter could bear fruit.

Mayor Johnson has formally put out a call for new first responder technology, and 28th Ward Alderman Jason Ervin says that’s a good thing. After all, he says the now defunct gunshot detection system was the only tech the City had seen.

“We have to look at additional technologies,” Ervin says. “I understand the mayor’s position on ShotSpotter. I think we need to see other technologies. I think having something is definitely going to be key, but we don’t know what that is because we’ve seen nothing but one thing.”

Ervin, who's an ally of the Mayor, says the City should find technology that is more proactive than just “chasing after gunshots.”

The alderman also reacted to a study that suggests that the City, while embracing new technology, has been less focused on improving the way it uses the systems and procedures it has.

“There are other things that can be done that should be done, as could have been done with ShotSpotter that just had not been done,” Earvin says. “The police department does have some work to do, and sometimes we have to sit down and actually do the work of it instead of running from call to call, which is what they do today.”

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