Let's get rid of ShotSpotters!

You might have seen the recent Wired article about the locations of ShotSpotters in different states. Or the ACLU's research that 70% of ShotSpotter Alerts are duds. Or Somerville City Councilor Willie Burnley Jr's call for a hearing on Somerville's ShotSpotters.

ShotSpotters are run by a private company that places microphones in our cities to identify the location of gun shots. Millions are spent on them in Massachusetts. Most of the funding for ShotSpotters is federal and paid for via the Boston Regional Information Center (BRIC) out of the Boston Police Headquarters.

ShotSpotters are often on city buildings or city street lights, but many of them are on residential buildings. The Wired map shows that, in Somerville, ShotSpotters are concentrated in Wards 1, 3, 4 and 6, but the map doesn't have the exact locations or number.

Somerville city council hearings will arrive in the next month or so and we need to be ready to advocate for eliminating ShotSpotters in Somerville. How we can help is up to us. Contacting our friends, family and neighbors asking them to call their city councilors is obvious. But what do we tell them to convince them when police play the fear card?

As the ACLU report indicates, there is a lot of wasted time tracking down false ShotSpotter leads. Indianapolis decided not to install ShotSpotter as it wasn't an effective use of money, but they haven't removed the sensors from the trial. Chicago may close them down as well. Data will help make our case, but what data do we need?

Knowing where ShotSpotters are located in Somerville and correlating them with census data would help us understand who they most affect. There are plenty of pirates in Somerville, Cambridge and Boston. Together, we can figure out how to remove ShotSpotters from our cities.

Join me this Thursday, 7pm, to discuss what we can do and what our next steps should be. Link available when you register.

Additionally, the ACLU will hold a ShotSpotter 101 virtual workshop Monday, April 29th, 6pm. I encourage you to go. You can sign up at: https://www.mobilize.us/aclum/event/621158/

Hope to talk with you this Thursday.

Jamie

PS Here are the links I included in case they didn't come through above:

• https://www.wired.com/story/shotspotter-secret-sensor-locations-leak/
• https://data.aclum.org/blog/boston-shotspotter
• https://archive.ph/foT5s#selection-1797.0-1797.43
• https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/impd-will-forgo-shotspotter-spend-1-million-on-tasers-instead
• https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/indys-shotspotter-pilot-is-over-so-why-are-the-sensors-still-there/
• https://meet.jit.si/IncredibleLampsCleanTenderly
• https://www.mobilize.us/aclum/event/621158/