Police in Boston have used ShotSpotter technology since 2007 to notify them when and where gunshots ring out. SoundThinking, the company behind ShotSpotter, has acoustic sensors that are placed around the city — which the company argues help police detect and respond quickly to shootings even if no one makes a 911 call.
With Boston's ShotSpotter contract up for renewal in June, a new report from the ACLU of Massachusetts makes the case that it's an unreliable technology and calls for the city to move on. The ACLU's analysis of more than 1,300 Boston police reports found nearly 70% of ShotSpotter alerts yielded no evidence of shots fired.
Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Project at the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Tom Chittum, SoundThinking's senior vice president of Analytics and Forensic Services, join Katie Lannan to discuss ShotSpotter's role and impacts in Boston.
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