Re: Chicago to drop ShotSpotter

The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:

Thu, 2 May 2024 18:33:45 -0400, Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2024/05/01/shotspotter-response-times-911-call-chicago-police-statistics-city-council-contract-mayor-johnson

I don't understand why the mayor wants to dump ShotSpotter. I could
only read the first couple of paragraphs of the story without a
subscription.

Johnson seems to be another "progressive" activist type so I'm guessing
he sees something racist in technology that is going to get police to
scenes of shootings faster because more black people are going to get
arrested, upsetting his base. Of course he's unlikely to actually say
that and would cloak it in some other improbable argument.

Which to me is strange since presumably this service is also tied in
to the local 911 service which in MOST communities is also tied in to
the ambulance dispatcher (it certainly is in my town). Most of us
would consider getting ambulances to where they need to go a plus, no?
PARTICULARLY if it involves a shooting.

It's tied directly to a display in each police district used by police
dispatchers, a system entirely built around ShotSpotter. I'm not sure
how the 911 calls get reconciled with the same shooting heard by
ShotSpotter.

To me this is as personal as it gets since as on 30 Jan 2005 my mother
was run over by a runaway RV and while the ambulance came, she died
literally on the doorsteps of the hospital - leaving my family always
wondering if a faster response might have saved her.

I'm sorry.