CHICAGO (CBS) — ShotSpotter is set to go dark at midnight Sunday night in Chicago. Mayor Brandon Johnson is searching for an alternative gunfire detection system. On Sunday, the city announced that it is now accepting recommendations.
Despite the fight to keep ShotSpotter in Chicago, the service will be decommissioned at 12:01 a.m. Monday. The mayor said the goal is to explore better options and save more lives.
The mayor’s campaign promise to cut ties with gunfire detection technology, which alerts police to gunfire faster than a 911 call, has now come to fruition.
Leading up to this weekend’s decommissioning of the service, the mayor’s Office of Community Safety launched what it describes as a “diverse working group of city and non-city employees” that has been discussing strategies with other cities, like Seattle, Houston, and San Antonio, which have recently moved away from ShotSpotter.
While the city forges ahead, uncertainty and even confusion loom.