Supporters make last-ditch effort to save ShotSpotter in Chicago, opponents say change needed

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Petitions signed by constituents and a new ordinance introduced by a city council member are both trying to find ways to convince Mayor Brandon Johnson, or perhaps circumvent his decision to do away with ShotSpotter technology.

Roughly 2,000 ShotSpotter transmitters are about to go silent in Chicago.

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Before the gunshot detection technology deactivates, as it's scheduled to do, September 23, there's a parliamentary scramble playing out inside city hall and Chicago communities.

"Fifteen-hundred signatures from residents who want to keep ShotSpotter in Chicago," said 23rd Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares.

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Jason Huff and his newly elected colleagues on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability spent months collecting those signatures, speaking with thousands of Southwest Side residents about ShotSpotter.

"A lot of people are concerned. They want to see it kept. They think it's a vital tool, especially when no calls are being made here in the district," he said.

Newly released Chicago police data shows since January 2024 police have responded 2 and a half minutes faster to gunfire alerted only by ShotSpotter. That takes about 12 minutes.

Data shows it takes about 14 and a half minutes for officers to arrive when responding to a 911 call without a ShotSpotter alert.

But 6th Ward Alderman Will Hall said that's not enough.

"To have technology just tell you but doesn't lead to prosecution, as well as guns off the street, is ineffective," he said. "What's the strategy? To tell us when people are shooting?? Or to keep people from getting guns and keeping people behind bars?"

In May, the city council voted overwhelmingly in favor of a binding order to keep ShotSpotter.

"There's an order out there that's passed that says that the mayor cannot take any money away from ShotSpotter without coming before the city council. And I hope he's willing to follow that order," said 17th Ward Ald. David Moore

Now Moore has introduced another backup plan: an ordinance that could give Chicago's corporation council and police superintendent the authority to extend the city's contract with ShotSpotter for another two years on grounds of public safety.

"We're not beating you up and saying you can't replace it with anything, but don't take a tool that we need right now to keep our communities safe and you don't have nothing to replace it with," he said.

"We need to let our superintendent do his job along with the mayor by looking at the newest technology," said 8th Ward Ald. Will Hall.

This back and forth will play out in person when city council reconvenes in what could be ShotSpotter's final days in Chicago.

ABC7 did reach out to the mayor's office for any comment, but did not hear back.