A Detroit Police Department employee in the Real Time Crime Center examines live monitoring, including a map of ShotSpotter alerts. Nov. 24, 2025. | Photo by Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance.
When gunfire rips through some Detroit neighborhoods, ShotSpotter hears it first — but where exactly that signal comes from is a secret kept even from police.
Critics of Detroit’s gunshot detection system have pointed to a lack of transparency as a concern since the city first signed a $1.5 million contract for the audio surveillance program in 2020…