ShotSpotter was decommissioned in Chicago at midnight Monday. What’s next?

CHICAGO — The City of Chicago’s relationship with ShotSpotter came to an end as the clock turned from Sunday night to Monday morning.

But the Chicago Police Department is assuring people that its commitment to public safety hasn’t changed.

ShotSpotter’s gunshot detection technology was decommissioned in the city at midnight Monday with the expiration of the city’s contract with SoundThinking, the company behind ShotSpotter. Alerts to law enforcement came to a stop, and the dismantling of the technology began.

SoundThinking says there’ll be a 60-day demobilization period, during which the company says it’ll work with CPD to ensure a smooth transition, including access to historical gun-crime data and other analytical tools.

The company also says it has begun the process of “prioritizing and de-installing ShotSpotter sensors on public-owned infrastructure throughout the 12 police districts being served.”

The ShotSpotter technology has helped the United States’ second-largest police department for years, alerting officers when gunshots were detected, often in cases where a 911 call wasn’t made.

But once the clock struck midnight Monday, the city and ShotSpotter parted ways.

“We’ve appreciated a very long-term, very productive relationship with the City of Chicago,” SoundThinking President Ralph Clark said. “All we ever wanted was to have a reasoned discussion looking at facts and data to make the real determination as to whether or not this relationship could continue.”

‘Seems to be political’

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he’d end the city’s contract with SoundThinking once he took office, often stating ShotSpotter was unreliable and costly to the city budget.

The mayor released a statement Sunday night as the city’s relationship with the gunshot detection technology came to an end.

“The ultimate goal is to deploy resources on the most effective strategies and tactics proven to accelerate the current downward trend in violent crime,” Johnson’s statement said. “We have to explore better options that save more lives.”

The mayor’s statement went on to say the city already has a group working to determine alternative strategies to public safety, including improvements in victim prevention, improving first responders’ times and hiring violence interrupters.

Clark, however, believes the mayor’s steadfastness in ending the city’s use of ShotSpotter seems to have been politically motivated.

“Unfortunately, it seems to be gone political, when you’re making a decision based on a campaign promise, versus a reasoned, fact-based decision now as the CEO, effectively, of the City of Chicago,” Clark said. “Where you have the responsibility of the care and safety of an entire community — a swath of communities — that are really suffering with respect to gun violence in very, very large ways.”

The mayor has also said ShotSpotter leads to over-policing in minority communities. But Gary Bunyard, Vice President of Corporate Development at SoundThinking, defended the technology as an unbiased way to approach gun violence.

“We provide the most unbiased approach to responding to gun violence, because we know nothing about the age, race, sex, motivation of the shooter,” Bunyard said. “All we know was a weapon was discharged at that particular point in time.”

Some alders oppose mayor

Many on the City Council are opposed to Johnson’s stance, some saying going to court over ShotSpotter could even be in play.

Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward) tweeted , in part, “Experts and community members all know ShotSpotter provides a vital tool for first responders to render aid to victims of gun violence.”

Ald. Monique Scott (24th Ward) said she wishes the mayor would’ve had more discussion over the use of ShotSpotter with council members and others.

“It’s just disheartening to think that this is just the end-all, if this was really based on a campaign promise and really not looked at once he got into office,” Scott said. “I wish that we could’ve sat down and discussed this prior to (Johnson) just saying, ‘I’m giving the executive order, and it’s just over.'”

Ald. Ray Lopez (15th Ward) said in a NewsNation interview that getting rid of ShotSpotter because it didn’t reduce gun violence, as the mayor claimed in calling it “a walkie talkie on a pole,” would be like getting rid of smoke detectors because your house wasn’t on fire.

“This is a detection technology, kind of like a smoke detector,” Lopez said. “And we wouldn’t throw out all of our smoke detectors because our house didn’t burn to the ground.

“We’re just happy when it goes off if something should happen. And that’s exactly how this technology works.”

In a Hail Mary move Wednesday last week, the City Council voted 33-14 to give CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling power over the city’s contract with SoundThinking.

Johnson called the measure illegal and vowed a veto if the legislation hit his desk.

The City Council would need 34 votes to override the mayor, which could happen at the next council meeting, or city alders could convene a special meeting before then, if they’re confident they have the support.

It was the second time the City Council voted to save the city’s use of ShotSpotter. But the mayor never wavered from his determination to discontinue it, although last February he did extend the city’s use of it through last month’s Democratic National Convention at the United Center.

In a statement shortly after the alders’ latest vote to keep ShotSpotter, SoundThinking thanked the City Council, calling its vote a “powerful message” with regard to the value of the system. But SoundThinking also said it would “cease sending the Chicago Police Department ShotSpotter real-time gunshot alerts” on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, CPD issued a statement Sunday night ensuring that its commitment to public safety will not change and reminding residents to call 911 if they hear any loud noises that sound similar to gunfire.

But Lopez, for one, is concerned what will happen now that the city has pulled the plug on ShotSpotter.

“To say that we’re going to end it without a replacement is not only irresponsible, it is dangerous and foolish to think that you could just turn the lights off and expect a new lightbulb to magically appear,” Lopez said.

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