Leaked Data Details The Reach And Breadth Of ShotSpotter’s Gunshot Detection Systems
The leader in gunshot detection tech rebranded recently. Following several months of sustained negative press, ShotSpotter decided it wanted to be called something else: SoundThinking.
But a raffelesia by any other name smells the same. ShotSpotter had experienced a bit of quick uptake by law enforcement agencies, but in recent years, it was more well-known for having contracts terminated by major cities, allegedly altering data to better fit police report narratives, and suing reporters for covering nothing more than allegations made against the company in court.
No one's going to stop calling ShotSpotter by its original Christian name. SoundThinking may be the new brand, but if anyone wants readers to instantly understand the tech being discussed, ShotSpotter is the name readers will see in headlines and articles' bodies.
ShotSpotter remains problematic, despite the issuance of new company letterhead. Several cities and law enforcement agencies have discovered the tech contributes almost nothing to things like crime reduction or homicide investigations.
Critics of the tech have used what data is actually available to show cities flood poor neighborhoods heavily populated by minorities with ShotSpotter sensors while leaving other, whiter, richer areas untouched. ShotSpotter is just more tech-washing of biased policing - a self-fulfilling prophecy where biased cops can point to alleged spotted shots in the places they've placed the most sensors as justification for more harassment and subjugation of poor minority communities.
But it's not just the supposed wrong" side of the tracks being flooded with ShotSpotter sensors (although there's still plenty of that). ShotSpotter has managed to insert itself anywhere government agencies think should be wired for (gun) sound. Leaked data shared with Wired indicates there are plenty of deployments the public doesn't know about, many of which don't involve neighborhoods assumed to be riddled with violent crime.
According to the document, SoundThinking equipment has been installed at more than a thousand elementary and high schools; they are perched atop dozens of billboards, scores of hospitals, and within more than a hundred public housing complexes. They can be found on significant US government buildings, including the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, and the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.
Any place where someone feels they might want to be notified of a potential gunshot appears to have been infected with ShotSpotter tech. The data obtained by Wired shows ShotSpotter sensors have been installed in 84 cities and 34 states. Several cities are engaged in mass deployment.
Nine cities have more than 500 sensors installed, including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Las Vegas, Nevada. The document does not indicate whether the list of sensors is comprehensive.
One of the cities listed (Chicago) is in the process of ditching the tech after an investigation showed the tech was doing little more than setting tax dollars on fire. As for Albuquerque, questionable shot-spotting tech is perhaps the least of its problems, considering the PD is still under a DOJ consent decree prompted by its officers' routine excessive force deployments and rights violations, not to mention the current DUI scandal that saw law enforcement officers' homes raided by FBI agents.
The data also confirms ShotSpotter deployment is just as biased as the law enforcement agencies deploying the gunshot sensors.
Nearly three-quarters of these neighborhoods are majority nonwhite, and the average household earns a little more than $50,000 a year.
These facts aren't being denied by ShotSpotter.
In an interview, Tom Chittum, senior vice president of forensic services at SoundThinking, tells WIRED that he is willing to accept that our findings are true" and confirmed that the document is likely authentic.
That being said, ShotSpotter may aid in biased policing efforts, but it cannot be blamed for discriminatory placement. While the CEO says ShotSpotter performs the installation, it only does so after consulting with the local law enforcement agencies that have purchased the tech. Once cops tell ShotSpotter where to place the sensors, the company works with local businesses, utilities, and even private homeowners to install the sensors - the latter of which sometimes involves the company giving people gift cards" in exchange for temporary access to their property.
Certain areas or properties may be blanketed with sensors but that doesn't mean useful data is being generated. According to the data obtained by Wired, nearly 10% of the sensors were categorized as broken or out of service. That might explain why the Chicago PD and its 3,500+ sensors were left in the dark when shooters fired 55 shots at a gyro shop, wounding two people.
Despite this leak, ShotSpotter's not going anywhere. While it affirms all the worst things people assume about the tech, these negatives are often seen as positives by their customers. The flooding of poor neighborhoods with sensors guarantees more gunshots will be detected in the places cops already consider to be filled with criminals. The expansion to other markets (hospitals, schools) allows the company to claim it's not in the business of aiding and abetting biased policing efforts. And the new brand will, at some point, allow the company to distance itself from negative press that utilizes its former name.
ShotSpotter isn't making policing any better. It's only contributing more faulty data that will be fed to other machines to perpetuate biased policing efforts. And it's arguably not making anyone any safer, despite the deployment of hundreds of thousands of sensors across the nation. Somehow, it will continue to make money, despite it often appearing to be indistinguishable from doing nothing at all.