Days before ShotSpotter’s end, alders try to outmaneuver Mayor Brandon Johnson

CHICAGO — Ald. Raymond Lopez on Monday filed paperwork calling for a special session of the City Council in hopes of overruling Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to cancel the city’s contract with SoundThinking, the company behind the ShotSpotter gunshot-detection technology.

Johnson last February extended use of the gunfire detection software through last month’s Democratic National Convention, setting a Sept. 22 expiration date. But a group of alders want the tech to remain in place.

“The City Council has already given him an order to continue this technology in the wards that want it,” said Lopez, who represents the 15th Ward. “Like every other order that this body gives him, he has to follow it and he’s willfully choosing to disregard the will of the body. … He is the chief executive. He has to execute the will of the City Council and we’re at a point now when we’re going to see which one of us is correct.”

Johnson insists he won’t reverse course, slamming the tech as a “walkie talkie on a pole.”

“The reason why they said we needed it was to reduce gun violence,” the mayor said. “It didn’t do that. So it’s incumbent upon all of us that the investments that we’re making, they have to get at the problem.”

Johnson pointed to Houston Mayor John Whitmire, who called the technology a “gimmick” in expressing his desire to cancel his city’s contract. Johnson was adamant that the City Council cannot overrule him, setting him on a collision course with the alders.

“We’re going to tune in Wednesday and see exactly what happens,” said Ald. Michelle Harris (8th Ward).

Lopez was joined in calling for a special session by Ald. Anthony Beale (9th Ward), Ald. Peter Chico (10th Ward), Ald. Marty Quinn (13th Ward), Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward), Ald. Monique Scott (24th Ward) and Ald. Felix Cardona (31st Ward).

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