Throughout virtually his entire time in office, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has pushed for the deployment of a surveillance technology called ShotSpotter, a so-called Acoustic Gunshot Location System (or AGLS), which purports to help deter gun violence by speeding up the dispatch of police after gunshots are reported.
Unfortunately, ShotSpotter doesn’t actually seem to work. As Crosscut reported last month, “[Community] groups and national experts, have already weighed in, calling the technology costly and ineffective and saying the money would be better spent on other resources to prevent and end gun violence.” There has even been an instance where ShotSpotter played a “pivotal role” in the police killing of an innocent child, 13 year old Adam Toledo of Chicago in 2021.
Given that Seattle is facing a massive budget shortfall, it would seem that good stewardship of taxpayer dollars would mean not knowingly wasting that money. Unfortunately, Mayor Harrell seems obsessed with ShotSpotter and cannot be dissuaded despite all of the evidence to the contrary. Cities that have previously adopted ShotSpotter have abandoned it, and former City Councilmember Lisa Herbold said “In fact, the research shows that it hurts police response times by repeatedly sending officers to mistaken alerts, pulling them away from doing work elsewhere.”
A public comment period for the ShotSpotter system ends this week, so let’s tell our elected officials not to waste our money on a technology boondoggle!
Submit feedback on ShotSpotter (AGLS) here: https://forms.office.com/g/MrNnnUbPSg
Sample responses:
Q: “What concerns, if any, do you have about the use of this technology?”
A: Many cities that have deployed ShotSpotter, like Chicago, have abandoned the technology after it has proven to be costly and ineffective. Given our massive budget shortfall, I want to see the city pursue proven and commonsense solutions, not chasing after technological boondoggles.
Q: “Do you have any additional concerns about the use of technology (in case you ran out of space in section one)”
A: {FEEL FREE TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL CRITIQUES HERE}
Q: “What value, if any, do you see in the use of this technology?”
A: The City of Seattle paying for ShotSpotter will help the company that creates and maintains it to perform another stock buyback, thus enriching its shareholders.
Q: “What would you want City leadership to consider when making a decision about the use of this technology?”
A: Why are you spending money on a flawed technology instead of commonsense, proven solutions?
Background
“Seattle may spend $1.8M on controversial gunshot detection program” – https://crosscut.com/news/2024/02/seattle-may-spend-18m-controversial-gunshot-detection-program
“Seattle’s ShotSpotter Program Faces Final Hearing Before Council Vote on Installing Controversial Gunfire Detection Tech” – https://southseattleemerald.com/2024/02/23/seattles-shotspotter-program-faces-final-hearing-before-council-vote-on-installing-controversial-gunfire-detection-tech/
“Public Comment Period Opening for the Technology Assisted Crime Prevention Pilot Technologies” – https://techtalk.seattle.gov/2024/02/02/public-comment-period-opening-for-the-technology-assisted-crime-prevention-pilot-technologies/
“Chicago will drop controversial ShotSpotter gunfire detection system” – https://www.npr.org/2024/02/15/1231394334/shotspotter-gunfire-detection-chicago-mayor-dropping
