Indianapolis PD Test Drives Three Gunshot Detection Systems, Decides None Are Worth Paying For
from the less-useful-than-a-911-call dept
No matter who’s pitching the system, gunshot detection just doesn’t seem to be having any affect on crime rates or clearing investigations.
The biggest player in the business — ShotSpotter (now known as SoundThinking) — has seen some major contracts cancelled because it can’t live up to the promises it made. Chicago is dumping the system, worth $11 million a year, because an oversight report made it clear ShotSpotter’s tech was less useful than doing nothing at all.
According to that report, the gunshot detection system scrambled officers to 40,000 “dead-ends” in 21 months. On top of that, thousands of gunshot detections only led to a 1% arrest rate. Most recently, the tech made headlines for sending cops after a teen setting off fireworks, which nearly resulted in the minor being killed by cops who were told (by the tech) they were responding to actual gunshots.
The city of Indianapolis apparently felt some sort of gunshot detection system was needed. ShotSpotter, however, was one of three systems considered. But adding more options didn’t result in better results. As Sarah Nelson reports for the Indy Star, the Indianapolis PD has decided it’s going to continue to go without this supposed “improvement” in law enforcement tech.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police will not pursue technology that detects gunshots after a study into the systems’ effectiveness in investigating shootings, opting to instead “invest in more impactful and fiscally responsible solutions,” the department announced Thursday.
The decision to forgo utilizing gunshot detection systems — which pinpoint incidents of gunfire — comes after a nine-week pilot program and follow-up report testing sensors installed by three vendors on the city’s east side between September and December 2022. The report, compiled by researchers and a working group in the police department, concluded the technology made little impact in collecting evidence versus if residents called 911.
Back to the drawing board, shot spotting tech bros. The IMPD said none of the systems were worth the cost, even if there were a few cases where it actually appeared to work.
ShotSpotter/SoundThinking was one participant in the trial run. The other two were J&M Security and Flock Safety. Flock’s reputation isn’t much better than ShotSpotter’s at this point. The company has not only overstated the value of its tech in terms of solving crimes, but it’s also now dealing with negative press related to its highly-questionable, bought-and-paid-for “studies,” breaking laws to install ALPR cameras, and its history as a plaything for HOAs and gated communities.
Somehow, ShotSpotter has managed to come out looking worse than its competitors. While its competitors during this trial period have already removed their devices from the city, ShotSpotter has apparently decided it’s not worth its time or effort to remove its rejected tech from the city.
In May 2023, the city invited companies to submit bids to provide gunshot detection technology. The bidding period closed in early July. Yet recently leaked data showed sensors from SoundThinking remained installed in east-side neighborhoods, unbeknownst to police, until at least late February, roughly seven months after the bidding window closed.
SoundThinking/ShotSpotter claims the devices aren’t sending any information to the PD, which is likely true. You can’t make money providing paid services for free. But it has shown no interest in retrieving its tech and, according to its statement to the Indy Star, it has no plans to do so in the immediate future. Citizens could probably remove these themselves and send them back to the company, given that the locations of the detectors was exposed in the leaked documents, but why should the public be stuck cleaning up a mess a surveillance tech company created?
This decision to reject all participants in gunshot detection provides more evidence the tech just isn’t as useful as their marketing departments claim. Most governments aren’t shy about spending public funds on worthless efforts. That the PD wouldn’t do it here is a pretty strong indictment of the tech itself.
Filed Under: gun shot detection, impd, indianapolis, indianapolis metropolitan police
Companies: flock, flock safety, j&m security, shotspotter, soundthinking
Comments on “Indianapolis PD Test Drives Three Gunshot Detection Systems, Decides None Are Worth Paying For”
Where is the data going? Not the police, but not nobody either…
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Possibly nobody, sure. It was going to ShotSpotter … er, SoundThinking first and a digest then went to the police. Now? most likely to /dev/null
A part of me thinks that it could also be a “sales strategy“. Keep the scanners installed and go back to the PD in a couple of years once the news buzz is over, claiming something like “Hey, did you know our system detected X number of crimes. You could have stopped them if you were paying for our systems. Oh, and by the way, all it takes to enable them is a signature, since the infrastructure is already in place!”
Hmm. Does that mean the tech counts as abandoned?
Also: are the devices still powered? if so, who’s paying the energy bill? While I doubt it adds up to a whole lot[0], it does not seem reasonable that the city (if the city is indeed paying that bill) should just pay for someone else’s tech (someone who’s not operating in the service of the city).
Ditto questions, but for devices network/internet access
[0] At least… if the sensors are…. sanely designed. But since this is shotspotter, I guess that means its a network of energy guzzling devices.
Seems like it’s time for a surveillance company that doesn’t particularly mind bending the law 😉 to come in and snap those up for reverse-engineering.
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I mean… you don’t really need to “reverse engineer” technology that never worked in the first place. Making up shiny new nonfunctional tech is just as cheap, and patentable too!
good news rarely comes out about Indianapolis
As an Indianapolis resident, here’s how I read this headline:
On Techdirt? Uh oh.
Oh no oh no oh no
That’s how they’re wasting the ridiculous amount of money we’re paying them??!?
Oh! Everything…turned out better than expected, actually!
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I read about it and wondered how accurate they would be in a state where fireworks are legal and prevalent (at least in my neck of Indy).
This almost makes me think they work. Cops love pseudoscience.
India surprised they didn’t go with all three anyway as something not working has never stopped American police going with it before, and it would have offered a lot of sweet, sweet probable cause to go harass the residents of poor neighborhoods more than they already do.
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Kinda. Damn you autocorrect.
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Hair analysis, bite mark analysis, “accelerant lines” in arson investigation.
“It doesn’t work” is almost a requirement for cops to pursue tech/science.
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On the other hand, many gunpowder acoustic experts comment here, yet don’t start a lucrative business doing so accurately
These systems can’t work in our society
Be it dumb teens playing with explosives (being shot was the least of his concerns),
Idiots in need of attention with gunshot-exhaust, backfire, angry couples tossing a tv out the window. Trucks dropping grates…
In an urban environment filled with noise,