Incident 112: Police Departments Reported ShotSpotter as Unreliable and Wasteful

Description: ShotSpotter algorithmic systems locating gunshots were reported by police departments for containing high false positive rates and wasting police resources, prompting discontinuation.

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Incident Stats

Incident ID
112
Report Count
13
Incident Date
2012-10-09
Editors
Sean McGregor, Khoa Lam, Daniel Atherton

GMF Taxonomy Classifications

Taxonomy Details

Known AI Goal

Gunshot Detection, Audio Localization

Known AI Technology

Acoustic Triangulation

Known AI Technical Failure

Generalization Failure

Potential AI Technical Failure

Dataset Imbalance, Inadequate Data Sampling, Underspecification, Concept Drift, Misconfigured Threshold, Underfitting

Troy will turn off ShotSpotter
timesunion.com · 2012

TROY — The cops on the beat, the brass and the mayor all agree that the high-tech listening system that's supposed to identify the location of gunshots is ineffective.

That's why the city has decided to get rid of the ShotSpotter system at …

sfexaminer.com · 2017

The accuracy of gunshot detection technology used by San Francisco police has been called into question as part of an attempted murder trial of a man accused of shooting at a car full of people in 2016.

While the trial of Michael Reed in co…

San Antonio police cut pricey gunshot detection system
expressnews.com · 2017

In his campaign to win re-election and convince voters he was tough on crime, Councilman Alan Warrick never missed a chance to bring up ShotSpotter, a pricey gunfire detection system he championed for his East Side district.

Of the 10 counc…

After too many shots missed, Fall River officially ends deal with ShotSpotter
heraldnews.com · 2018

The Fall River Police Department and ShotSpotter, the $120,000-a-year gunshot detection system, have officially parted ways.

FALL RIVER - The Fall River Police Department and ShotSpotter, the $120,000-a-year gunshot detection system, have o…

ShotSpotter Generated Over 40,000 Dead-End Police Deployments in Chicago in 21 Months, According to New Study
macarthurjustice.org · 2021

MacArthur Justice Center study finds City’s use of ShotSpotter is inaccurate, expensive and dangerous

CHICAGO – A new study of Chicago’s use of ShotSpotter, a surveillance system designed to detect gunfire, finds that the vast majority of a…

Four Problems with the ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection System
aclu.org · 2021

(Updated below)

A critical report on the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system issued today by the City of Chicago’s Inspector General (IG) is the latest indication of deep problems with the gunshot detection company and its technology, incl…

NYC, Chicago Waste Millions on Gunshot Detection Technology, Report Says
bloomberg.com · 2022

The New York City and Chicago police departments spend millions of dollars a year on gunshot detection technology that a privacy group argues is ineffective and invasive.

The departments pay ShotSpotter Inc. for technology that uses microph…

Report: ShotSpotter wastes officers time, provides little help in court, targets overpoliced communities
syracuse.com · 2022

Syracuse, N.Y. – A report came out last week that criticizes gunshot detection technology used by cities across the country - including Syracuse - as ineffective, wasting officers’ time and targeting overpoliced communities.

The Surveillan…

Report Evaluates Efficiency of Gunshot Detection Technology
govtech.com · 2022

(TNS) — A report came out last week that criticizes gunshot detection technology used by cities across the country - including Syracuse - as ineffective, wasting officers’ time and targeting overpoliced communities.

The Surveillance Technol…

Portland to change course, accept competitive bids for gunshot detection pilot
opb.org · 2023

Portland city officials last week quietly reversed course on a decision to avoid a competitive bid process and launch a gunshot detection pilot program with ShotSpotter, a company critics say dramatically oversells its capabilities.

Portlan…

ShotSpotter Employees Not Only Have The Power To Alter Gunshot Reports, But Do It Nearly 10% Of The Time
techdirt.com · 2023

What’s being presented by ShotSpotter as good news for people who feel they’ve been wrongly accused, doesn’t actually appear to be all that comforting.

ShotSpotter’s mic tech and AI combine forces to report possible gunshots to law enforcem…

Gunshot detection system gets mixed reviews nationally
benitolink.com · 2023

The Shotspotter acoustic gunshot detection system will eventually come back to Hollister City Council for a vote. If approved, the first year will cost nearly $50,000 to monitor one square mile of the city.

Editor’s note: This article was u…

Shots in the dark
chicagoreader.com · 2024

In 2017, Chicago police began to slowly expand a vast network of microphones mounted atop lampposts and utility poles---the electronic ears of the controversial gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter. This coincided with the creation of n…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.