The short-term future of the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system remained in limbo Friday as its operators and the city reportedly tried to work out an extension to keep the police technology running through the weekend and on through the summer.
The uncertainty continued to linger after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Tuesday announcement that the gunshot detection system would be decommissioned after the summer was quickly overshadowed by speculation the company would take it offline even sooner.
The day after Johnson pledge to extend ShotSpotter’s contract beyond its Friday expiration to instead end in September, Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th, said ShotSpotter representatives planned to turn down the extension. Johnson had described the 7-month extension as a much needed off-ramp for police to “revamp operations.”
Taliaferro’s claim raised the possibility ShotSpotter would simply cease operating Saturday — and potentially leave police without both the tool they’ve come to rely upon to react to shootings and needed time to adapt to its absence.
City officials remained hopeful throughout the day Friday that a deal to keep ShotSpotter running was close, but said they had no agreement to share at 7 p.m.
A Johnson spokesperson did not immediately answer Friday night when asked if ShotSpotter would continue working. A police spokesperson referred the question to Johnson’s staff.
Company and city officials mostly refused to answer questions as the gunshot detection system’s short-term future hung in doubt throughout the week. The non-answers became even more prominent during the mayor’s fiery news conference Thursday in which reporters grew frustrated as Johnson dodged questions about whether or not a deal had been reached.
Johnson would not answer “yes” or “no” when repeatedly asked if Chicago and ShotSpotter had a contract, but said he had “been clear” that the technology would operate through September.
Later Thursday night, the company said it had previously discussed a longer 12-month extension with the city, but said Johnson’s Tuesday pledge to keep ShotSpotter running until after the Democratic National Convention in August was made “contrary to those discussions and without consultation.”
Johnson offered a different take earlier in the day.
“When I’ve had conversations with those who operate and run ShotSpotter, from the very beginning we were clear about what I’ve already announced. That is still in place,” he said.
At the same Thursday news conference, the mayor doubled down on the need to have a “runway” to transition the city’s police force off of ShotSpotter and on to other emergency response tools.
The confusion over ShotSpotter’s future soured what was at first a marquee progressive promise delivered Tuesday for Johnson, who campaigned on ending the city’s use of the technology.
ShotSpotter — which uses light pole-mounted acoustic sensors, mostly on the South and West Sides, to quickly alert police about the location of suspected gunfire — has been in the crosshairs of activists for years. It gained notoriety in 2021 after a gunshot alert from a street in Little Village sent responding police running after 13-year-old Adam Toledo. An officer fatally shot Toledo during the chase.
Johnson’s Tuesday decision to stop using ShotSpotter in September drew praise from such activists, who then underscored that they will protest any move to replace the police tool with a similar system.
To no avail, reporters clamored in vain Thursday for one-word answers on if ShotSpotter would operate this weekend. But the mayor offered a crystal clear response to whether it would be replaced in Chicago by another gunshot detection tool.
“No,” he said before the reporter finished asking the question.
jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
