This week, the Novel York City Comptroller released a similar statement revision the city’s ShotSpotter system found that only 13 percent of alerts generated by the system over an eight-month period could be confirmed as gunshots. The auditors noted that while the Novel York Police Department had the information necessary to publish ShotSpotter accuracy data, it did not do so. They described the department’s accountability measures as “inadequate” and “insufficient to demonstrate the effectiveness of the tool.”
Champaign and Chicago have since terminated their contracts with Flock Safety and SoundThinking, respectively.
“Raven is over 90% accurate in detecting gunshots with about the same accuracy in detecting fireworks,” Josh Thomas, senior vice president of policy and communications for Flock Safety, tells WIRED in a statement. “And most importantly, Raven alerts officers to gun violence incidents they would never be aware of. For example, in a San Jose report of 111 true positive gunshot calls, SJPD states that only 6 percent were called 911.”
Eric Piza, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University, has conducted some of the most thorough research available on gunshot detection systems. IN recent study During shootings in Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri, his team’s analysis found that police responded more quickly to shooting incidents, stopped vehicles closer to the scene of the shooting, and collected more ballistics evidence when responding to automated shots fired alerts compared to 911 calls. However, there was no reduction in gun crimes, and police were no more likely to solve gun crimes in areas with gunshot sensors than in areas without them. This study only included confirmed shootings; it did not include false positive incidents in which systems misidentified shots fired.
IN another examination in Kansas City, Pisa found that reports of shots fired in areas with gunshot detectors were 15 percent more likely to be classified as unsubstantiated compared to reports of shots fired in areas without systems, where police would rely on 911 calls and other reports. methods.
“If you look at the different goals of the system, the research shows that [gunshot detection technology] usually results in faster police response times,” Piza says. “Yet research has consistently shown that gun violence victimization does not decrease with the introduction of gunshot detection technology.”
The Novel York City auditor has recommended that the Novel York Police Department not renew its current $22 million contract with SoundThinking without first conducting a more thorough performance review. In response to the audit, the NYPD wrote that “failure to extend ShotSpotter services could endanger the public.”
In its report, the San Jose Office of Digital Privacy recommended that police continue to look for ways to improve accuracy if they intend to continue using the Raven system.
Pointing to the report’s findings that only 6 percent of confirmed shots detected by the system were reported to police via 911 call or other means, police spokesman Sergeant Jorge Garibay tells WIRED that SJPD will continue to employ the technology. “The system continues to prove useful in providing additional evidence in a variety of violent gun crimes,” he says. “We hope to solve more crimes and increase arrest efforts, which will desirablely reduce gun violence.”