I have been reading the Sun-Times’ criticism of ShotSpotter technology. I am a retired lieutenant with 20 years of service in the New York Police Department. I was around when ShotSpotter was implemented in my precinct in 2016. I am writing to inform your readers of some information they might not be aware of.
In urban, high-crime neighborhoods in which hundreds of people are shot and thousands of rounds fired, citizens stop calling 911 for every shooting. On many occasions, prior to ShotSpotter, I would hear gunfire off in the distance and had to wait for 911 calls to direct me to the scene. If we received any calls, many of the calls were blocks from the actual shooting, and they came over one to three minutes from the gunfire occurring.
