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ShotSpotter promised to use AI to detect gunfire, dispatch police faster, and make cities safer.
Instead, it quietly put millions of Americans under constant audio surveillance, triggered thousands of false alarms, and became one of the most controversial government tech contractors in the country.

In this video, we travel to Chicago — one of ShotSpotter’s biggest customers — to investigate how the system actually works, why so many alerts never lead to real crimes, and how internal reclassification of audio turned a safety product into a legal and ethical nightmare.

This is the story of how flawed data, lobbying, and surveillance tech collided — and why once a city buys into systems like this, it’s almost impossible to walk away.

Recommended video:
https://youtu.be/76vm5lj-3FE?si=52KNSSx7Y_Hl7Nt2

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📚 Sources & References

Associated Press — ShotSpotter & Police AI
https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-algorithm-technology-police-crime-7e3345485aa668c97606d4b54f9b6220

Wired — Secret Sensor Locations Leak
https://www.wired.com/story/shotspotter-secret-sensor-locations-leak/

ACLU — Four Problems With ShotSpotter
https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/four-problems-with-the-shotspotter-gunshot-detection-system

IPVM — ShotSpotter Accuracy Report
https://ipvm.com/reports/shotspotter-accuracy

The Record — ShotSpotter Inaccuracies in NYC
https://therecord.media/police-shotspotter-inaccurate-new-york

Wikipedia — Killing of Adam Toledo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Adam_Toledo

Sen. Ed Markey — DHS OIG Letter on ShotSpotter
https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/shotspotter_dhs_oig_letter_51424.pdf

Vice — Police Telling ShotSpotter to Alter Evidence
https://www.vice.com/en/article/police-are-telling-shotspotter-to-alter-evidence-from-gunshot-detecting-ai/

East Bay Express — Illegal Lobbying in Oakland
https://eastbayexpress.com/shotspotter-lobbied-oakland-officials-in-apparent-violation-of-law-1/

Oregon Public Broadcasting — ShotSpotter Lobbying
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/11/07/shotspotter-convinced-portland-spend-big-controversial-gunshot-detection-technology/

Prism Reports — Chicago Ends ShotSpotter
https://prismreports.org/2024/12/02/how-chicago-organizers-rid-the-city-of-shotspotter/

ABC7 Chicago — Chicago Dismantles ShotSpotter
https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-shotspotter-contract-ends-sunday-city-begin-dismantling-gunshot-detection-technology-monday/15341343/


#ShotSpotter #AIPolicing #SurveillanceTech #PrivacyRights #PoliceTechnology #TechEthics #AIandLaw #Chicago #CivilLiberties #BigBrother #Slidebean #InvestigativeTech #FutureOfPolicing

America's (Failed) Secret Surveillance System