After Mayor Brandon Johnson made good on his marketing campaign promise to deactivate the controversial ShotSpotter gunfire-detection system, he wavered within the face of opposition and directed his administration to begin purchasing for police applied sciences.
A “request for data” issued by the town in the end drew responses from 15 corporations that promote a variety of high-tech instruments, devices and gizmos — from drones and GPS-equipped dart launchers to programs that purpose to streamline crime reporting and proof evaluation.
Six of the corporations that responded supply gunshot-detection know-how, together with SoundThinking, ShotSpotter’s dad or mum firm. The town has since began accepting bids on a brand new “gun violence detection” contract, though it’s unclear what number of of these corporations will apply.
The “request for proposal,” issued earlier this month, might be adopted by related bidding alternatives for contracts associated to digital camera and drone applied sciences, in keeping with a supply aware of the method. In the meantime, CPD has quietly been testing know-how designed to detect weapons and stop shootings.
Mayor Johnson has argued that thousands and thousands of taxpayer {dollars} had been wasted on ShotSpotter — a know-how he likened to “a walkie-talkie on a pole” — however his administration is now barreling forward with a course of that would establish it as the most suitable choice in the marketplace and additional broaden the Chicago Police Division’s surveillance capabilities.
A SoundThinking spokesperson wouldn’t say whether or not the corporate plans to submit a bid. Of the 5 different corporations that beforehand pitched their detection programs, representatives for 2 corporations stated they’re thinking about making use of.
Garien Gatewood, Johnson’s deputy mayor for group security, wouldn’t reply particular questions in regards to the applied sciences the town is utilizing or contemplating, citing the continued procurement course of. However Gatewood insisted that future contracting is being knowledgeable by sturdy group engagement and analysis.
“The mayor is to discover a know-how that may assist drive security throughout the town,” he stated. “That is additionally why we went via that RFI course of as a result of we wanted to see what was on the market. And we’re going via the RFP course of to have a greater sense and understanding on what can truly ship, and assist ship, security to the town of Chicago.”
Shot down
On Feb. 13, 2024, Johnson introduced the town would cut the cord on ShotSpotter, setting off acrimonious City Council debates and frantic negotiations to maintain the know-how via the violent summer season months. All advised, ShotSpotter price the town greater than $53 million since 2018.
Johnson’s controversial determination, first reported by the Solar-Instances, got here after the know-how was criticized in a collection of scathing reviews that referred to as into query its efficacy.
The town’s Office of the Inspector General discovered the know-how not often led to investigatory stops or proof of gun crimes. And a assessment by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office concluded that ShotSpotter was “an costly software” that had little impact on prosecuting gun circumstances.
In an act of defiance, Metropolis Council voted 33-14 in September to provide ShotSpotter contracting authority to Police Supt. Larry Snelling, a champion of the know-how. Johnson deemed the transfer “unlawful,” and the system was shut down days later.
In accordance with a doc posted on-line Feb. 3, the town is now searching for know-how to “allow CPD to detect cases of violent crime, as a way to expedite response occasions, enhance the chance of acquiring forensic proof, and allow to fast deployment of first help for victims.”
The system ought to detect 97% of out of doors gunfire, and bidders will need to have the capability to cowl the town’s total 235 sq. miles — way over the 136 sq. miles ShotSpotter spanned. The posting seems to say the preliminary protection space could be not more than 80 sq. miles.
The contract would stretch 5 years, with the likelihood for extensions as much as three extra years. All proposals should be submitted by April 11.
An ‘moral stance’
Tim Kelly, president and co-founder of Crime Gun Intelligence Applied sciences, stated the agency will doubtless apply for the contract. The corporate beforehand submitted particulars about its FireFLY LTE know-how as a part of the RFI course of, which was introduced by Johnson in September.
The system was initially developed to guard troops abroad, Kelly stated. It was repurposed for city environments after the previous ATF agent used it to research a spate of interstate shootings in 2015 close to Fort Collins, Colorado.
“I don’t know if it actually helped that a lot within the investigation,” Kelly stated, however it prompted the event of the “transportable” system his firm is now pushing.
He stated it stands aside from the competitors as a result of its sensors can be utilized to handle “clusters of shootings” after which be moved, as an alternative of remaining in fastened posts.
“In case you had been to take a look at loads of these activists on the market, one in all their underlying complaints with the legacy programs is that, hey, you’re focusing on a group, sometimes Black or brown,” Kelly stated. “And I’m like, effectively, perhaps what this know-how must be doing is focusing on the shooters themselves, the trigger-pullers. And when that individual is faraway from that group, effectively perhaps you’ll be able to transfer the system, too.”
Flock Security, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, additionally responded to the RFI. Spokesperson Holly Beilin stated the agency is now contemplating whether or not to bid for the contract.
Beilin stated Flock’s Raven system connects to automated license plate readers, permitting cops to shortly hyperlink getaway automobiles to shootings. A built-in analytics software then permits investigators to simply flag autos which have been utilized in a number of taking pictures incidents, a function that Beilin stated may help bolster arrests.
Like Kelly, Beilin highlighted the corporate’s moral concerns.
“Any searches performed within the Flock system are mechanically saved in audit logs, and that audit log is indefinitely out there so if a command employees or an oversight boards needs to grasp what this know-how is doing, that’s all saved in an audit report,” she stated. “And I believe that in a metropolis like Chicago, it looks like that moral stance is absolutely vital.”
4 different corporations that supply gunshot-detection know-how responded to the RFI:
- SoundThinking, the Fremont, California-based developer of ShotSpotter. “SoundThinking may be very pleased with the extremely compliant resolution that we introduced in our response to the town’s RFI, together with metropolis knowledge that validates the confirmed and distinctive worth of the ShotSpotter resolution,” a spokesperson stated.
- Knightscope, a agency headquartered in Mountain View, California, markets the Automated Gunshot Detection system. Representatives didn’t reply to requests for remark.
- TechnoIdentity, a Houston-based tech firm, sells the Triangula gunshot-detection system. Representatives additionally didn’t reply to inquiries.
- Johnson Controls, primarily based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A spokesperson declined to remark.
Renewed considerations over secrecy
Though Mayor Johnson was vital of ShotSpotter, the town has continued to broaden its surveillance capabilities below his watch.
In August, the CTA introduced it was testing a tool called ZeroEyes that makes use of synthetic intelligence-equipped cameras to detect weapons.
On the time, a spokesperson of the ACLU of Illinois raised considerations that the know-how had been carried out on the transit system with none public dialogue. Since then, ZeroEyes has additionally been piloted in a handful of police districts, sources stated.
A nonetheless photograph taken from an illustration video exhibiting ZeroEyes AI software program detecting a weapon at a CTA Blue Line station. The CTA has entered right into a one-year pilot program with the corporate to make use of the gun-detecting surveillance software.
Chicago Transit Authority
The corporate, primarily based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, was began by “a crew of Navy SEALs and elite technologists” in response to the 2018 mass taking pictures at Marjorie Stonemason Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida. ZeroEyes didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Freddy Martinez, director of Lucy Parsons Labs, a Chicago-based police accountability nonprofit, stated he doesn’t see a lot “daylight” between Johnson’s stance on surveillance and that of his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor who additionally led the Chicago Police Board.
Martinez stated the town’s lack of transparency about sure applied sciences underscores “why it’s so vital that you’ve got of us from the communities doing that type of analysis and doing that type of oversight.”
