Johnson's mixed signals on ShotSpotter add up to another misstep

[nycbos]

For context, Chicago's mayor Brandon Johnson pledged to get rid of a technology called ShotSpotter during the mayoral campaign.

To my understanding, there are contradictory reports on whether or not the technology is effective.


Johnson’s mixed signals on ShotSpotter add up to another misstep

The public deserves two things in the wake of Mayor Brandon Johnson's move Tuesday to cancel the city’s ShotSpotter contract: a clear-as-crystal answer as to why he thinks the pricey system is ineffective — and a suitable replacement for the gunfire-detection technology that the city's top cop favors.

Instead, Chicagoans received yet another one of those muddled and maddeningly contradictory "solutions" that have become so typical of the Johnson administration.

The mayor said he is ditching ShotSpotter when the city's $49 million contract ends Friday — but will keep the technology in place through Sept. 22, through a new contract in order to aid crime fighting efforts through the summer and during the high-profile Democratic National Convention in August.

That makes ShotSpotter simultaneously bad enough to get rid of now, and yet good enough to keep around for another six months. Only in Johnson's City Hall does this make sense.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/editorials/2024/02/14/shotspotter-mayor-johnson-city-hall-supt-larry-snelling-editorial

[cbabe]

1. Follow the money. It's always about the money.

[Marcus IM]

2. ShotSpotter nodes were recently put up in my neighborhood, after police were shot up during a DV call.

When I told my family back home, they were aghast.
I said that there is no more shock at the breadth of the gun problems in the US.
Every mass shooting is on the anniversary of a past mass shooting.
"Dios mío. Vuelve a casa." was the response.
I worry about them. They worry about me.