{"id":11688,"date":"2024-03-05T19:12:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=11688"},"modified":"2024-03-05T19:12:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T19:12:42","slug":"council-shoots-down-shotspotter-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/03\/05\/council-shoots-down-shotspotter-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Council shoots down ShotSpotter \u2014\u00a0again"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a contentious vote Monday night, the City Council voted against re-implementing ShotSpotter in Durham.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

ShotSpotter<\/span><\/a>, which uses acoustic sensors to detect gunshots and notify police, was deployed in a region of Durham with high rates of gunshot incidents for a year-long trial during 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That trial ended in December after council members voted against continuing the contract. But after a recent report from the Wilson Center for Science and Justice at the Duke University School of Law reopened questions about the technology, ShotSpotter was back on the council\u2019s agenda..\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Leonardo Williams, in his signature red glasses and matching red tie, began the ShotSpotter discussion by giving each citizen who was signed up to speak two minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting out spicy tonight,\u201d Williams said, referring to the long list of speakers ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the more than 15 people who spoke, only one urged the council to vote to continue the use of ShotSpotter in Durham.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seth Hurley, a high school senior from Durham School of the Arts, urged the council to vote \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe HEART program saves lives,\u201d said Hurley, citing a Durham <\/span>crisis response program<\/span><\/a> that deploys mental health clinicians to help respond to 911 calls. \u201cShotSpotter does not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

King Sage, a resident of East Durham, where the technology was tried, said ShotSpotter is a bad use of Durham\u2019s resources. \u201cI never once heard my neighbors seriously say that we needed more policing and surveillance,\u201d said Sage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brittney Price, who lives a couple blocks north of a ShotSpotter sensor, told the council of the time she lost a loved one to gun violence, when she was living in a different city. The gunshots that killed him were picked up by ShotSpotter but dismissed as not being gun fire, she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Generally, the conversation centered around whether ShotSpotter effectively addresses the issue of gun violence and whether its implementation results in heightened policing in communities, potentially exposing them to greater risks.<\/span><\/p>\n

When it was time for the council members to vote, the numbers mimicked exactly what happened last December: a 4-2 vote, with Middleton and Williams voting yes, and the other four council members voting no.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chelsea Cook, who was recently appointed to City Council, found the data in the recent study uncompelling. \u201cOnly two<\/span> confirmed shots with wounds were ShotSpotter-only calls,\u201d said Cook. In the more than 90\u00a0 remaining instances, incidents reported by ShotSpotter were also reported by 911 calls, she said. To Cook, that duplication suggested a lack of necessity for this expensive program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the right technology for Durham, I will not be supporting it tonight,\u201d said Cook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Also voting no were council members Nate Baker and Carl Rist. Baker cited data from the Wilson Center report.\u00a0 Rist found the results from the recent report inconclusive and noted the skepticism expressed by Durham residents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By contrast, council member Mark-Anthony Middleton has firmly supported ShotSpotter since its arrival in Durham.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He wanted to talk about North Carolina Central University, where scholars hoped to try the technology. Middleton addressed the comparison between the HEART program and ShotSpotter, saying they can absolutely co-exist, and HEART should not be used as an alternative to ShotSpotter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are two totally different lanes,\u201d said Middleton.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Council member Javiera Caballero said Durham should be careful in how it allocates its resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a money tree,\u201d said Caballero.\u201cI said no in 2019, I said no when it came up in 2022 for a vote, and I said no this evening.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, it was Williams\u2019 turn. He called up Chief of Police Patrice Andrews, adding that when he was a teacher, he hated when school board members, not teachers, made the decisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us are police officers,\u201d said Williams.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0“Any amount of time reduction is a positive thing,\u201d the chief said.<\/span> \u201cShotSpotter is a tool\u2026. It\u2019s just one more tool in our whole repertoire of investigative tools and resources that we have.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Williams and Middleton voted in favor, a 4-2 vote brought ShotSpotter to the ground once again. Durham will not be seeing this technology in its streets for the foreseeable future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a contentious vote Monday night, the City Council voted against re-implementing ShotSpotter in Durham.\u00a0 ShotSpotter, which uses acoustic sensors to detect gunshots and notify…<\/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":[58,75],"class_list":["post-11688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-government","category-public-safety","tag-city-council","tag-crime","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nCouncil shoots down ShotSpotter \u2014\u00a0again - 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\/03\/05\/council-shoots-down-shotspotter-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Council shoots down ShotSpotter \u2014\u00a0again - 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