Detroit City Council Renews $2.1 Million ShotSpotter Deal Through March 2027 in 5-4 Vote
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 1
Detroit City Council Renews $2.1 Million ShotSpotter Deal Through March 2027 in 5-4 Vote
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 1
Summary
Detroit’s City Council approved the SoundThinking contract extension 5-4 on Tuesday, keeping the ShotSpotter gunshot-detection system operating through the end of March 2027.
The $2.1 million renewal passed despite opposition from Council President James Tate and other critics who said the company would not renegotiate and the cost was hard to justify.
Gabriela Santiago-Romero and ACLU of Michigan testimony challenged the system’s effectiveness and warned that false alerts, audio collection and policing in minority neighborhoods could deepen privacy and surveillance concerns.
Detroit police defended the technology with at least one west-side case in which a ShotSpotter alert led officers to a gunshot victim when no 911 call had been made.
The vote extends a debate that has followed Detroit’s use of ShotSpotter since the city first contracted for coverage in 2020 and again in late 2022.