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Chicago City Council votes to keep ShotSpotter technology, mayor will veto

By and
Updated  September 18, 2024 5:18pm CDT
Chicago City Council
FOX 32 Chicago

'I was elected to transform this city': Johnson goes off on ShotSpotter, will veto council's vote

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Wednesday he would veto the City Council's vote to keep ShotSpotter, the gunshot detection technology.

The Brief 

    • The Chicago City Council voted to extend ShotSpotter, but Mayor Brandon Johnson plans to veto it, citing ineffectiveness and high costs.
    • Johnson prefers alternative public safety measures, like hiring more detectives and purchasing helicopters, arguing ShotSpotter hasn’t reduced violence.
    • The council is divided, with some members considering legal action if the mayor doesn’t change his mind.

CHICAGO - The Chicago City Council voted on Wednesday to keep ShotSpotter, the gunshot detection technology that alerts police to the sound of gunfire.

With the contract set to expire on Sunday, the city council voted 33-14 to keep the technology.

However, not long after the council's approval, Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed the media and said he will veto the vote.

"Clearly, the illegal dynamic of this ordinance has left me no choice but to veto it," Johnson said. "But I am committed to making sure that we are coming up with a collaborative approach to find systems that will actually work." 

The mayor said that public safety and community safety is his top priority and has other ideas in mind to help combat crime in the city instead of utilizing ShotSpotter, including hiring more detectives, purchasing three new helicopters, and more. 

Johnson added that ShotSpotter hasn't led to reduced violence in Chicago or more arrests – what it initially claimed to do. He also referred to it as an "ineffective tool."

"What I'm not going to do is allow the interest and the greed of a corporation to play on the fears and anxiety of the people of Chicago," Johnson said. 

Shotspotter was first introduced in Chicago in 2018 under CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson. Police have said that it gets them to the scene faster. 

New data given to the city’s Public Safety Committee showed ShotSpotter alerted police to 1,976 gunshot victims over a 14-month period from 2023 through 2024.

"ShotSpotter is a technology that it would be foolish to get rid of," Eddie Johnson said.

Critics said it leads to an elevated response without enough information and over-policing.

Brandon Johnson served his harshest criticism of the system earlier this week, calling it inaccurate and expensive.

"A hundred million dollars for a walkie-talkie on a pole and the reason why they said we needed it was to reduce gun violence. It didn't do that. So, it's incumbent upon all of us to make sure that the investments that we're making, they have to get at the problem," Johnson said.

Chicago City Council votes to keep ShotSpotter

The city council has voted in favor of keeping the gunshot detection technology.

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) said public safety should come ahead of concerns over cost.

"How can Brandon Johnson, the mayor of the most American of American cities, put a price tag on saving lives?" Lopez asked.

Johnson has the power over city contracts. The City Council has never tried to overrule the mayor in this way. Alderpersons said if he doesn’t change his mind, they’ll go to court.