Civil Liberties
Related: About this forumProgressives press Chicago mayor over pledge to end controversial policing tool ShotSpotter
Source: The Guardian
Progressives press Chicago mayor over pledge to end controversial policing tool
Brandon Johnson vowed to drop controversial gunshot detection system but approved a $10m payment for contractor ShotSpotter
Leigh Giangreco in Chicago
Sun 16 Jul 2023 15.43 BST
Progressives have vowed to hold the new Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson, to his campaign pledge that as part of crime-control efforts in the city he will break with the controversial gunshot detection contractor ShotSpotter.
Johnson gave the keynote speech this week at Netroots, the largest annual gathering of progressives in the country, taking place in Chicago, and amplified his campaign talk about a wider approach to safer streets.
Many people will make you believe that the only way in which you can have safe communities is by simply engaging in politics of old, by believing that the only answer to public safety is policing. Thats a failed strategy, he told the gathering.
However the progressive Democrat did not repeat his campaign trail commitments to pull the plug on ShotSpotter when the citys current contract is up next year. For more than a decade, Chicago has used the companys nearly 30-year-old gunshot detection system, deployed in high-crime areas and designed to direct police to shootings, but that in recent years has faced intense criticism for its methodology and the impact of its technology on communities of color.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/16/chicago-mayor-brandon-johnson-anti-crime-promise
No-registration link: https://archive.li/sGO6b
Frasier Balzov
(3,468 posts)ShotSpotter is effective in bringing officers more quickly to wherever guns are being used.
Why would communities of color be opposed to this realtime response tool?
Eugene
(62,627 posts)and overall effectiveness have been disputed by multiple studies.
ShotSpotter's audio surveillance of conversations (which has been used in court) is also a bone of contention.
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,567 posts)Jk23
(385 posts)The city council will probably override his veto.