ShotSpotter Pitches In To Help Cops Open Fire On A Teen Setting Off Fireworks
from the can't-end-that-contract-soon-enough dept
Back in 2021, the Chicago Office of the Inspector General released a report on the PD’s ShotSpotter tech. The acoustic detection system was apparently mostly useless, no matter what ShotSpotter may have commented in response.
Residents of Chicago are paying nearly $11 million a year for this system. But it’s obvious they’re not getting much bang for their buck, so to speak. ShotSpotter (which has since rebranded to SoundThinking) claims its detection system is worth every penny blown on it, stating that it is “highly accurate” and “benefits communities battling gun violence.”
Plenty of cities that have spent money on this product say otherwise. So do lawsuit plaintiffs and other victims of civil rights abuses, who have claimed ShotSpotter will alter detection records to align with the narratives crafted by police officers following acts of police violence or wrongful arrests.
The Chicago OIG report disputes ShotSpotter’s claim that its tech “benefits communities battling gun violence.” It’s actually the opposite of that, according to the data gathered by the Inspector General.
OIG concluded from its analysis that CPD responses to ShotSpotter alerts can seldom be shown to lead to investigatory stops which might have investigative value and rarely produce evidence of a gun-related crime.
[…]
The CPD data examined by OIG does not support a conclusion that ShotSpotter is an effective tool in developing evidence of gun-related crime.
Despite this report (and a lawsuit against the city and its police department), Chicago is apparently still paying $11 million a year for a system that doesn’t appear to work.
No gun crime got stopped here, as Adam Schwartz reports for the EFF. However, it did give Chicago police officers the reasonable suspicion to go traipsing around the neighborhood with their guns at the ready, resulting in the following (thankfully not deadly) debacle.
On January 25, while responding to a ShotSpotter alert, a Chicago police officer opened fire on an unarmed “maybe 14 or 15” year old child in his backyard. Three officers approached the boy’s house, with one asking “What you doing bro, you good?” They heard a loud bang, later determined to be fireworks, and shot at the child. Fortunately, no physical injuries were recorded. In initial reports, police falsely claimed that they fired at a “man” who had fired on officers.
Lots of stuff going on here. Presumably, the ShotSpotter system was triggered by the fireworks but was unable to distinguish between the detonated fireworks and actual gunshots.
Second, the officers were unable to make this distinction either, as they immediately treated the percussive noise as shots fired at them and responded with actual gunshots.
Third, the PD then told local reporters officers had “fired shots at a person” who they only identified as “male.” The rest of the facts were withheld until the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) concluded its investigation and released the body cam video. In that video, an officer is heard informing dispatch that officers had just shot at a teenager. These facts were all known by the Chicago PD, but no one from the department bothered to call the Chicago Sun Times to get the headline referring to the shot-at person as a “man” corrected.
This was all cleared up by the COPA investigation. And, it appears the Chicago PD is taking this incident seriously. All three officers have been placed on administrative duty and are being investigated to see whether department policies were violated.
The bigger concern is obviously the tech that brought the officers there in the first place. It’s literally called “ShotSpotter” so every alert is obviously going to be treated as actual gunfire, even if it isn’t. This puts officers on edge and makes them more prone to react the way these officers did — something that could easily have resulted in the injury or killing of a minor doing nothing more than setting off fireworks.
The other good news is that Chicago’s contract with ShotSpotter will expire in September, which will hopefully head off further incidents like these. And, as Schwartz notes in his article for the EFF, it means the Chicago PD will stop spending millions a year for the dubious privilege of being worse at policing.
[The] 2021 [Inspector General’s] study in Chicago found that, in a period of 21 months, ShotSpotter resulted in police acting on dead-end reports over 40,000 times. Likewise, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office concluded that ShotSpotter had “minimal return on investment” and only resulted in arrest for 1% of proven shootings, according to a recent CBS report.
So, that pretty shoots “better than doing nothing” arguments all to hell. It’s literally worse than doing nothing. The alternative — not using ShotSpotter — would be better. And that’s where the city is headed before the end of this year. Hopefully, more cities will take a closer look at this tech and realize spending this money on pretty much anything else is probably a better use of public funds.
Filed Under: chicago, chicago pd, gunshot detection
Companies: shotspotter, soundthinking
Comments on “ShotSpotter Pitches In To Help Cops Open Fire On A Teen Setting Off Fireworks”
“In initial reports, police falsely claimed that they fired at a “man” who had fired on officers.”
False claims are also known as lies.
Perhaps the media needs to stop playing word games when it comes to things cops do.
It often takes 3 or 4 words for media to say raped when its a cop doing the raping, using words that deflect from the fact that a cop used his position to sexually abuse another person against their will.
Gotta wonder if the citizens feel safer knowing that cops were willing to make “false claims” about them shooting at anyone, let alone a child. Perhaps it is time to ask why the hell unions feel they have to have the back of every cop even those cops who clearly are unfit.
If you know your partner is a rapist, how can you feel safe that they have your back?? They are willing to break the law for their own benefit & you are required to back them because they also wear blue.
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Yeah, I’m sure its easy to tell a 16 year old exploding fireworks, from an adult shooting a gun in the middle of the night on January 25th.
Its totally the cops fault, that the kid who saw cops walk up an announce themselves, decided to launch fireworks in their direction, and thought they were being fired upon in Chicago.
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So you didn’t watch the bodycam video and instead you just straight up lied. How very Benjamin Jay Barber of you.
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riddle me this batman, how much fuse gets burned in 10 seconds?
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Fuck, you are stupid as a rock and to compensate you make shit up out of thin air.
For everyone’s sake, just throw away your computer so your stupidity doesn’t spread.
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“its easy to tell a 16 year old exploding fireworks, from an adult shooting a gun”
Good thing there were no falling acorns in the vicinity. I hear those bad boys can really cause some damage.
Perhaps one should receive adequate training prior to being out in public with weapons.
Breaking news: A mouse farted in a wall space which a nearby Shotspotter flagged as gun fire. Police responded and opened fire when a second fart was again misconstrued by Shotspotter. The home was almost demolished by the overwhelming concentrated fire power.
The mouse escaped, sadly the home had to be put down.
How many patrol officers could they hire for $11 million/year? How many detectives? Hell, how many meter-maids?
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Not to mention for that much money it can’t be programmed with sound profiles to distinguish between a gunshot and fireworks?
in a period of 21 months, ShotSpotter resulted in police acting on dead-end reports over 40,000 times.
If the same occurred due to phones-in tips, people would be fined and going to jail rather than receiving 11 million a year.
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Remember, Friends: the author is an anarcho-communist who hates police and wants your communities to collapse into lawlessness and despair. He is an anti-social malcontent.
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shut the fuck up troll
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get fucked, communist.
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Lol. Fucking incel.
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I know this is going to fall upon deaf ears, but criticism of the police as an institution is often a desire to see the institution of policing reformed—from the ground up, if necessary—with a more humane approach in mind. Asking the police to avoid situations like the one discussed in the article isn’t “hate” unless one believes policing has an absolute requirement to act with cruelty, malice, and even depraved indifference towards anyone perceived to be a threat, a criminal, or even a mere malcontent.
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Except this author is an avowed cop hater and chaos-monger. He doesn’t want law enforcement improved–he wants police eliminated and anarchy to reign.
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Please provide citations of fact for these claims, such as direct quotes from the author and links to where those quotes can be found in their full context.
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Shut up, autist.
Re: Re: Re:3
Your failure to cite the substance of your claims, as is required for those claims to be taken seriously, compels dismissal.
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?? I’m making fun of you for being afflicted with autism. My citation is your own unsurprising admission that you’re developmentally disabled.
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Autism isn’t shameful.
What you have going on, however… your parents clearly failed you in many several ways. That’s not your fault. At a certain point, though, you’re actively making the decision to be this vile lump of poison.
And that’s shameful.
Re: Re: Re:5
You think it’s other people who have developmental issues, yet you’re throwing middle school insults like everyone else is going to laugh along with you just being an asshole.
Re: Re: Re:5
That really says everything we need to know about you.
Re: Re: Re:5
Autism’s not an affliction, actually, but if it were, I’d choose to be so afflicted rather than be like you.
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Sadly, not the insurrectionist in question,, but…
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/02/shotspotter-looking-to-compound-bad-cop-tech-ideas-by-acquiring-predictive-policing-software-company/#comment-3380075
I maintain that Tim is being sarcastic here, since apparently, it’s one of his many haters.
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How many kids murdered by cop is too many for you?
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Zero, apparently.
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Remember friends, questioning the violent whims of those empowered to murder the innocent without consequence under the guise of justice is going to destroy the delicate fabric of our completely free and just society! It is your patriotic duty to bootlick jingoist authoritarianism until a firework or acorn forces a noble police officer to gun you down out of concern only for his own well-being. Any other response is downright satanic anarcho-communist vegan critical race theorist terrorism that will definitely be the worst possible thing ever and it will definitely make you impotent and increase your wait time at the DMV. Also, someone shat in my pants. I think it was the ghost of Vladimir Lenin. I need to go read my American flag covered Trump bible after my underpaid caregiver cleans me up.
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ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT TIGER ATTACKS WITH MY TIGER REPELLING ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!
Never seen a tiger in your backyard?
Thank my magic stones!!
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Antifa shit my pants!
Anarcho-communists shit my pants!
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So being pro cop is being pro shooting kids. Yeah, fuck cops.
Wait, so they are responding to alleged gun fire, they encounter a child/teen (but it looks like they weren’t able to fully visually identify the situation)… THEN they hear what they believe to be gun fire (initially), and their first response is to attempt to murder (or at least endanger) the kid?
So, no bothering to figure out who is shooting, who they are shooting at, or why they are shooting. Just “whelp we found a civy, so when shit goes south, fill ’em full of holes!”
That sounds like the reactions of someone who needs counseling, or maybe other assistance (I’m not in the right field to diagnose that).
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Unfortunately, this is not that uncommon among police.
I am no expert in the field …
but one can not over look the fact that a gun shot will have a frequency response discernibly different than that of a firecracker. Perhaps some frequencies are subdued somewhat from bouncing off buildings, trees, etc.
Not much of a shot spotter if it is confused by firecrackers.
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In theory Thats the basis behind shotspotter in the first place. I’d believe we could do it under laboratory conditions.
But in reality, shotspotter can’t reasonably ever get a clean pickup of either. Unless the mic is placed fortuitously, its pickup wont be directionally placed to get a clean pickup and basic city sounds mean some level of interference would be present even in a ‘clean’ pickup. Then you add echoing, dampening, and distortion brought on by the irregular environment. Its as much guess work as science.
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Yes, ShotSpotter may be useless and expensive, but anyone setting off fireworks in a residential area deserves whatever happens to him and will get no sympathy from me.
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I can only hope someone has the same response to you after you get executed by cops after they suspect you of a parking violation.
“They should have just COmpLIeD!”
Eat shit.
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Because there are no parks in a residential area. Gee, where will you watch a firework display this July?
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This isn’t 4chan, you’re not cool for being edgy.
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And that’s still no justification for the teen to get shot.
Yes, I know fireworks are dangerous. Still, getting shot by the police is a rather extreme reaction, even if it is a dangerous thing.
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Are you advocating for a murder spree, or is there a death penalty for setting off firecrackers in your jurisdiction?
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He’s rightly advocating for application of instant death penalty to scumbag punks who ignite fireworks in residential areas.
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Fortunately, the lack of generosity of your sympathy isn’t a basis for human or legal rights. You could have just as easily commented: “I’m a callous asshole who doesn’t care if innocent people die,” and it would have had the same functional meaning.
While it can be said shotspotter is shit
It doesn’t excuse the trigger happy response to a non threat or LYING ON FUCKING REPORT after the fact!
*So, that pretty shoots “better than doing nothing” arguments all to hell. *
Obviously you’re not operating on police logic. Anything that gives them anything resembling an excuse to execute unarmed civilians is a must-have technology or legislation.
Grim Prediction
And on the Fourth of July, ShotSpotter gets switched off from eight until midnight, during which period gun crime rises exponentially.
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Why? It has already been proven to do nothing.
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Except increase incidents of cops murdering other citizens. And that’s without the reports of ‘suspicious black dude’ passing a $20 bill that may be dodgy.
Is this a joke? This is just the typical precursor to “we have investigated ourselves and found that we did nothing wrong.”
Were any acorns involved?
The police are increasingly proven to be trigger happy cowards who shouldn’t be trusted with a pointed stick. Thin Yellow Line anyone?
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Apparently so.
Remember Deputy Acorn...
…who mag dumped his own vehicle with a suspect inside.
ShotSpotter is pure snake oil, and needs to be viewed for the garbage it is. But ShotSpotter is not necessary for idiot, trigger-happy cops to mistake a falling acorn for hostile gunfire and respond instantly with the maximum amount of deadly force at their disposal.
Sure are a lot of gunpowder sound experts here.
Missing a fact..
Any fireworks large enough to set off shot spotter are illegal in Illinois.
Police responding to a shooting report fired on a man, in his mid teens, for setting off illegal explosives.