Missed Shots

Shotspotter, an acoustic gunshot-detection technology company, has built a network of thousands of sensors across twelve of Chicago’s twenty-two police districts. The devices detect loud noises that a computer algorithm and human analysts review to determine if they’re gunshots, and dispatch police to scenes of shootings. The technology is controversial: studies have raised questions about its efficacy and how it impacts police responses, and activists have called on the city to cancel its contract with ShotSpotter for years.

This months-long investigation was published shortly before Mayor Brandon Johnson’s February 13 announcement that he would fulfill his campaign promise to not renew ShotSpotter’s contract, which expired a few days later. The investigation combined internal company emails, documents obtained from the police department and Mayor’s Office via public-records requests, interviews, on-the-ground reporting and analysis of public data.

We found that CPD reported hundreds of missed shootings to ShotSpotter in 2023; that a public safety director complained to the company about a fifty-five-round shooting in 2022 because of broken sensors; executives’ internal discussions about staffing issues that impacted their ability to repair sensors in Chicago; that the company was warned about electrical code violations on its installations; and that executives lobbied Johnson’s administration to keep the contract. Our reporting also found ShotSpotter coverage areas in districts the city hasn’t acknowledged them being in and that the company has kept collecting gunshot data in some cities after contracts were canceled.

IMPACT: At a February 21 press conference, Johnson was asked what “the deciding factor” was in canceling the contract. “With this particular form of technology, there has been a series of investigations and reports that have indicated that the return on that investment…hasn’t yielded the results it promised,” Johnson said. “It really came down to: Is [ShotSpotter] providing a real, true benefit in which it promised to do, and unfortunately, report after report here in the city of Chicago has indicated otherwise.”

ShotSpotter Keeps Listening After Contracts Expire

Internal emails show the company continued to provide gunshot data to police in cities where its contracts were canceled.

Several cities—Dayton, San Diego, and San Antonio—have canceled ShotSpotter contracts, and Mayor Brandon Johnson is attempting to cancel Chicago’s contract as well. But internal emails suggest ShotSpotter keeps its sensors online and, in some instances, provides gunshot detection alerts to police departments in cities where its contracts have expired or been canceled. The emails raise new questions about whether the sensors in Chicago will be turned off and removed, regardless of Johnson’s decision. This story was co-published in collaboration with WIRED.

CPD Reported Hundreds of Missed Shootings to ShotSpotter

The department reported misses more than 550 times in 2023, and a public safety director complained about a 55-round miss in 2022.

In December 2022, two men were wounded in a hail of bullets in Back of the Yards. The next day, a Public Safety Administration director complained to a ShotSpotter executive that the company’s senors failed to detect the shooting. Internal company emails show ShotSpotter executives blamed the miss on three downed sensors in the vicinity. The executives didn’t know when the company would be able to repair the downed sensors—and said they could not admit that to public safety officials. Data we obtained from CPD shows the department reported hundreds of missed shootings to ShotSpotter in 2023.

ShotSpotter Monitors Billboards in Jefferson Park

The gunshot-detection company put sensors in the Northwest Side neighborhood in 2020 at JCDecaux’s request—for free.

In 2019, the French billboard company JCDecaux asked ShotSpotter to monitor the areas around several electronic billboards it claimed had been shot at on the far Northwest Side. With the city’s blessing, ShotSpotter obliged. The company established three small coverage areas around the billboards, which are in neighborhoods that have some of the lowest levels of gun violence in the city.

ShotSpotter Lobbied Mayor’s Office ahead of Budget Vote

An internal email shows the company’s CEO planned a “multi-prong” approach to getting support for renewing ShotSpotter’s contract.

After Johnson was elected in April 2023, ShotSpotter CEO Ralph Clark issued a public statement congratulating the mayor-elect. That same day, Clark sent an email to employees that blamed the company’s share price drop on Johnson’s victory and said executives planned to lobby support for renewing the contract. Emails obtained from the Mayor’s Office reveal how that lobbying effort played out—and show executives met with mayoral advisor Jason Lee days before the 2024 budget vote in City Council.

CEO Says Johnson’s 2024 Budget Includes ShotSpotter

The mayor pledged to end the contract during his campaign.

In November, the day before the City Council voted on Mayor Johnson’s 2024 budget, ShotSpotter’s CEO told investors in an earnings call that there was a line item in the budget for acoustic gunshot surveillance technology. Both the CEO and a spokesperson for the mayor denied anyone had given the company any indication the contract would be extended.