A steep drop in homicides in the 12 South and West side neighborhoods that had ShotSpotter sensors lasted a full year after Mayor Brandon Johnson scrapped the city’s controversial gunshot detection system, an updated analysis of Chicago crime data shows.
Despite dire warnings that without ShotSpotter police officers would be unable to stop a wave of gun violence, Johnson turned off the microphones that sent an alert to police officers every time the system picked up suspected gunfire.
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 22, the first anniversary of the system being shut down, police beats that had ShotSpotter sensors saw an approximately 32% decrease in homicides, according to an analysis of Chicago crime data by Rob Vargas, a sociology professor at the University of Chicago who leads the UChicago Justice Project. Vargas and David Hackett updated the analysis at the request of WTTW News…