Minneapolis considers eliminating ShotSpotter gunfire detection system because... it's "racist"??

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Minneapolis, which was ground zero in the nonsense that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020, responded to that by remarkably attempting to dismantle its police department.

Because nothing answers a spike in crime like taking away those sworn to enforce the law. The latest insanity to come to one-half of the Twin Cities is the possible elimination of ShotSpotter technology in the city. You can certainly guess why. 

ShotSpotter is a technology deployed in numerous cities across the country. According to the company, 80% of gunfire incidents are never reported to police. ShotSpotter is an automated acoustic gunshot detection system that immediately notifies law enforcement upon activation and can direct resources to the location of the gunshots.

The system is installed around a city and uses microphones, a machine-learning algorithm, and human evaluators to detect gunshots. Once it is activated, it triangulates the sounds’ locations and alerts law enforcement officials to the activation's whereabouts.  

The city’s contract with ShotSpotter expired in March, and now come in the city is claiming the technology is “ineffective” and “promotes discriminatory policing” against minorities in the city. Proponents of the system, including law enforcement officials, say the technology helps officers more accurately determine the location of gunshots and get to the scene faster. However, none of that matters to activists, who are more concerned with virtue signaling than the safety of its residents. 

According to the Minneapolis Post, the system is used in over 160 cities nationwide. 

Neither the police nor the public knows where the sensors are installed, however, data leaked from the manufacturer of ShotSpotter, SoundThinking, revealed the coordinates of more than 25,000 sensors globally. That data showed sensors are installed atop elementary schools, public housing complexes, billboards, and government buildings. In other words, areas where violent crime is likely to occur or where it is crucial to have an immediate response. 

ShotSpotter technology has been in place in Minneapolis for nearly 20 years, with the company spending almost $2.2 million in contracts with SoundThinking since 2007. In 2019, the twin city of St. Paul considered implementing the technology during an increase in gun violence, however, it eventually decided against purchasing the technology. 

Minneapolis Ward 2 City Council Member Robin Wonsley, chair of the Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee, is seeking to have the city council evaluate the ShotSpotter system since no such review has been conducted during her term. 

“From my understanding, we’ve never done an evaluation of ShotSpotter since we entered into a counteract with them prior to my tenure on the City Council,” Wonsley said in an interview. “I think it’s timely that we do that and from that analysis–be able to have data in front of us so that we can make a sound decision.” 

Meanwhile, the city’s Office of Community Safety (OCS), which the police department operates under, will decide whether to renew the contract with the mayor. 

In a statement, OCS spokesman Brian Feintech said they plan to pursue a renewal of the contract. 

Feintech said, “The Office of Community Safety and its departments will present to the City Council on the city’s use of ShotSpotter in the coming weeks. OCS departments view ShotSpotter as a valuable tool to collect data that we would not otherwise have.” 

While the system has been deployed nationwide, some research shows it is only sometimes an effective tool. Many cities used American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding to purchase the system, however, that funding has dried up, and some cities appear hesitant to take on the bill, according to Abdul Nasser Rad, managing director of research and data at Campaign Zero, a public safety-focused research group. 

“[Cities] were able to leverage a lot of that ARPA funding, which cities were like, ‘this is free money,’” he said. “Now I think generally there’s a lot more skepticism and concern, but there’s also much more harder questions, like is this actually taking resources away from people calling 911…and how is it actually being deployed.” 

Rad complained that some research has shown the ShotSpotter system is susceptible to activating in error because the sound waves it uses to detect gunshots are similar to fireworks or a car backfiring. Critics claim that it draws resources away from other areas where they are needed and increases 911 response times to other areas. 

Research conducted by the MacArthur Justice Center found that in Chicago, nearly two years of ShotSpotter activation data was reviewed in 2021. It estimated that 89%--or about 40,000–of ShotSpotter alerts resulted in officers finding no gunfire-related crime. In February, city officials in Chicago announced they would not renew their contract. 

Then there is, of course, the alleged racial impact. According to Alexander Lindenfelser of the University of Minnesota Law School and Legal Rights Center, his research found the use of the ShotSpotter technology “disproportionately impacts black and native [American] residents across Minneapolis. Lindenfelser used U.S. Census data and found black and native residents were more than three times more likely to live in an area with a ShotSpotter sensor installed. 

It would seem to make sense that the system would be involved in higher crime areas, and unfortunately, minorities have a tendency (often through no fault of their own) to live in such areas. That has become an even more pronounced issue under the Biden economy, which has negatively impacted all but the most wealthy Americans (and illegal aliens). 

Lindenfelser fears that the greater number of activations in such communities could harm a police department’s relationship with the community they serve, in this case, Chicago. According to a report from the Chicago Office of the Inspector General, officers perceive neighborhoods blanketed with ShotSpotter sensors as more dangerous, even though the specific location of system censors is unknown to them. 

“ShotSpotter sensors detect a gunshot that is instead a firework, a backfiring car, construction noise, or another loud, impulsive sound, and police respond to an incident that they think is dangerous and treat bystanders accordingly,” Lindenfelser said in an interview. “This has a lot of potential for police interactions to escalate out of fear in a way that can damage community trust.” 

Rad said critics of the system believe it facilitates “over-policing” in areas with poor relations with law enforcement. He claims, without backing, that police departments could use data provided by ShotSpotter to justify aggressive police response in those neighborhoods. 

“This is the concern with a lot of policing technologies, that it will legitimize the sort of racist practices that police departments use in order to respond to social problems,” he said. “This is a further way of just basically making it seem like this is a neutral or objective way of sending in more police.” 

Opponents claim the perception of danger in areas covered by ShotSpotter systems could have long-term effects. They claim developers and retailers may use such data to avoid locating in those neighborhoods, which they say further disenfranchises residents in those communities. That, in turn, leads to shortages of housing and essential services. 

Minneapolis and Chicago aren’t the only cities that are currently weighing whether to keep ShotSpotter or not. Rad said he remains hopeful that existing research on the effectiveness of the system and more research moving forward will have cities turn to “more proven gun violence prevention measures.” 

“It’s an opportunity for the city to actually look into alternative reporting systems and actually be serious about this issue.”