The Chicago Police Department’s Use of ShotSpotter Technology
Summary
The Public Safety section of the Office of Inspector General initiated an inquiry into the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) use of ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection technology and CPD’s response to ShotSpotter alert notifications.
Executive Summary
In this report, OIG details ShotSpotter’s functionality and descriptive statistics regarding law enforcement activity related to CPD’s response to ShotSpotter alerts. OIG does not issue recommendations associated with this descriptive data. OIG is issuing this analysis of the outcomes of ShotSpotter alerts to provide the public and City government officials—to the extent feasible given the quality of OEMC and CPD’s data—with clear and accurate information regarding CPD’s use of ShotSpotter technology.
OIG concluded from its analysis that CPD responses to ShotSpotter alerts rarely produce documented evidence of a gun-related crime, investigatory stop, or recovery of a firearm. Additionally, OIG identified evidence that the introduction of ShotSpotter technology in Chicago has changed the way some CPD members perceive and interact with individuals present in areas where ShotSpotter alerts are frequent.
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