Chicago inspector general criticizes $33 million ShotSpotter system amid rise in shootings
Fox News
Chicago's Inspector General released a critical report Tuesday on the Chicago Police Department's use of gunshot detection system ShotSpotter as the city grapples with a surge in shootings this year.
The city signed a three-year contract in August 2018 with ShotSpotter, which uses a "patented system of sensors, algorithms and artificial intelligence" to detect gunshots, according to the company's website. Chicago police requested an extension of that contract last November and the city granted it the next month. The OIG report found that only 9.1% of ShotSpotter alerts that led to a police dispatch, 4,556 out of 41,830, produced evidence of a gun-related criminal offense. "From quantitative analysis of ShotSpotter data and other records, OIG concludes that CPD responses to ShotSpotter alerts rarely produce evidence of a gun-related crime, rarely give rise to investigatory stops, and even less frequently lead to the recovery of gun crime-related evidence during an investigatory stop," the report said.More Related News