{"id":11590,"date":"2024-02-23T20:50:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T20:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=11590"},"modified":"2024-02-23T20:50:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T20:50:26","slug":"a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a year-long trial of the controversial ShotSpotter program<\/a> ended in December, many Durham residents assumed the gunshot detection technology was a thing of the past. But on Thursday, it was back with a bang on the Durham City Council agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Council members discussed authorizing a $658,500 three-year contract to continue using the ShotSpotter gunshot detection service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection technology that uses acoustic sensors to detect and locate gunshots and notify and dispatch police immediately. According to the company, less than 20 percent of gunfire events are reported to 911 nationally, and even when reported, emergency calls often come several minutes after the incident.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the year-long experiment in Durham from December 2022 to December 2023, ShotSpotter was deployed in a three-square-mile area \u2014 a small but high-risk region that accounts for nearly a third of Durham\u2019s gunshot wound incidents.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s council work session, the Wilson Center for Science and Justice, a criminal justice research center at Duke University School of Law, presented an independent evaluation of ShotSpotter. They found that in the pilot area, police response times improved by 1.2 minutes, and the technology helped police find evidence in 71 cases and led to seven arrests. It is unclear whether ShotSpotter helped reduce gun violence overall, and questions of accuracy remain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Durham\u2019s fourth quarter crime report, also presented at Thursday\u2019s work session, Durham saw an 11 percent increase in the number of shootings from 2022 to 2023, including 79 incidents where 911 was not called but ShotSpotter detected gunfire.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet the program has attracted considerable controversy. At previous council meetings, Durham residents have voiced concerns about increased surveillance in vulnerable communities. The Wilson Center found that ShotSpotter led to 2.3 extra police deployments daily in the pilot area, utilizing patrol resources that could have gone elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

In December, when the Durham City Council voted against extending the ShotSpotter pilot for three more months, some argued that funds should be redirected to solutions addressing gun violence at the root.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abdul Nasser Rad, managing director at Campaign Zero, a police reform campaign, Zoomed into Thursday\u2019s meeting to voice his concerns. He referenced Chicago\u2019s recent decision to terminate its contract with ShotSpotter, citing fears of over-policing in black and brown communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Council member Mark-Anthony Middleton responded to Nasser\u2019s concerns by listing other cities, including San Francisco, New York City, six cities in North Carolina, and more, where ShotSpotter programs are regarded as successful.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Chicago, and this is Durham,\u201d Mayor Leonardo Williams said. \u201cI want to focus on Durham and allowing the data to help us make this decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some Durham residents are avid ShotSpotter supporters. Jontae Dunston said he took time off of work to verbalize his frustration at the program\u2019s discontinuation. \u201cIn the communities that ShotSpotter is set up in, these are communities where no one calls 911. If you hear a shot, everybody goes on with their business,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe community is so confused, and we\u2019re angry at the council,\u201d Dunston said, continuing to speak long after Williams cut him off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams said he wants the council to dig deep into the data before making an informed, objective decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

The council is expected to vote on the motion to bring back ShotSpotter at the next City Council meeting on March 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a year-long trial of the controversial ShotSpotter program ended in December, many Durham residents assumed the gunshot detection technology was a thing of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-11590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-government","category-public-safety","tag-city-council","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nA ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology - 9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After a year-long trial of the controversial ShotSpotter program ended in December, many Durham residents assumed the gunshot detection technology was a thing of the…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alison Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alison Jones\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alison Jones\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e87c6c87252ee31c36dc1903ee36b42\"},\"headline\":\"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/\"},\"wordCount\":553,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"City Council\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Local government\",\"Public safety\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/\",\"name\":\"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology - 9th Street Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\",\"name\":\"9th Street Journal\",\"description\":\"We cover Durham (and North Carolina politics)\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"9th Street Journal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg\",\"width\":869,\"height\":104,\"caption\":\"9th Street Journal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e87c6c87252ee31c36dc1903ee36b42\",\"name\":\"Alison Jones\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa54b129e782ba40f2b3c13e2d00d91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa54b129e782ba40f2b3c13e2d00d91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alison Jones\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/author\/storey-wertheimer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology - 9th Street Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology - 9th Street Journal","og_description":"After a year-long trial of the controversial ShotSpotter program ended in December, many Durham residents assumed the gunshot detection technology was a thing of the…","og_url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/","og_site_name":"9th Street Journal","article_published_time":"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00","author":"Alison Jones","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alison Jones","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/"},"author":{"name":"Alison Jones","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e87c6c87252ee31c36dc1903ee36b42"},"headline":"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology","datePublished":"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/"},"wordCount":553,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["City Council"],"articleSection":["Local government","Public safety"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/","name":"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology - 9th Street Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-23T20:50:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/02\/23\/a-ricochet-for-shotspotter-the-controversial-gun-detection-technology\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A ricochet for ShotSpotter, the controversial gun detection technology"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/","name":"9th Street Journal","description":"We cover Durham (and North Carolina politics)","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#organization","name":"9th Street Journal","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/09\/9th-Street-Journal-Logo-cropped.jpeg","width":869,"height":104,"caption":"9th Street Journal"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e87c6c87252ee31c36dc1903ee36b42","name":"Alison Jones","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa54b129e782ba40f2b3c13e2d00d91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aa54b129e782ba40f2b3c13e2d00d91d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alison Jones"},"url":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/author\/storey-wertheimer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}