Chicago mayor, aldermen move closer to legal showdown over ShotSpotter
(The Center Square) – Chicago Ald. David Moore insists he has all the motivation he needs in his high-stakes battle with Mayor Brandon Johnson over the long-term fate of the city’s ShotSpotter gun detection system.
Johnson was critical of a recently passed ordinance that would give the police superintendent the power to extend the city’s contract with ShotSpotter.
“This particular resolution did not reinstate ShotSpotter, that’s the misinformation that’s out there,” Johnson said. “What it attempted to do is to give procurement authority to a separate body, which is illegal.”
After Wednesday’s Chicago City Council meeting, Johnson stood by his decision to end the contract with the gun detection technology.
“Cities all over America have called into question the effectiveness of this particular form of technology,” Johnson said. “What I’ve said is that we have to have technology that works and that we have opened up a process to give people an opportunity to weigh in on that.”
Johnson’s office put out a request for information to search for other public safety technology when it discontinued the contract.
Earlier this year, a report from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said the service only led to arrests in 1% of cases, while another found only about 9% of alerts were ultimately linked to evidence of a gun crime.
But in the more than two weeks now since ShotSpotter went offline, Moore argues the city has paid the price.
“That’s been thoroughly reported,” Moore told The Center Square. “When you have a young lady over in the 10th Ward not only being shot and sitting there overnight when there was the possibility her life could have been saved. There’s been other instances that have been reported including a doctor at the University of Chicago Hospital who talks about time matters in terms of when a person gets there.”
A recent University of Chicago Crime Lab study found ShotSpotter likely saves in the neighborhood of 85 lives per year by quickly alerting first responders to shootings. The technology works by using a network of sensors to detect and report the sound of gunshots to authorities.
Even as he elected not to make good on his vow to veto the ordinance that passed in a 33-14 vote last month, Johnson made it a point of blasting the legislation that would give Police Supt. Larry Snelling the power to extend the city’s contract with ShotSpotter as illegal, setting the stage for what could be a long and drawn out legal battle with Moore and other lawmakers over his decision to pull the plug on ShotSpotter.
“It’s important because it’s important to my constituents,” Moore told The Center Square. “I got in this because my constituents were concerned about losing something that’s keeping them safe and also it was a tool that the superintendent said that he needed. If it’s a tool that he says he needs and our communities feel they need it to keep it safe I have the responsibility to advocate for that.”
More recently a team of alderman that included Moore, Peter Chico (10th), Anthony Beale (9th) and Stephanie Coleman (16th) announced they have worked with business leaders to raise $2.5 million to cover the city’s $9.6 million cost for ShotSpotter until a permanent technology solution is in place.
Johnson said it’s disappointing the effort to raise the money for something he said “doesn’t work.”
“They’re going to raise $2.5 million for a single item that has proven it’s ineffectiveness but work against $100 million that could have addressed housing and homelessness in this city,” Johnson said.
Greg Bishop contributed to this report.
