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Chicago Expands Gunshot Detection Pilot to Multiple Vendors After Voters Back Referendum
Chicago is revising its gunshot-detection pilot so all shortlisted vendors, including ShotSpotter's maker, can compete, after 72% of voters backed a non-binding referendum to revive the technology. The change follows Mayor Brandon Johnson's 2024 decision to end the city's ShotSpotter contract.
Chicago is overhauling its plan to test gunshot-detection technology, opening the pilot to every company already on the city's short list for a contract rather than testing a single vendor's system, procurement officials said Monday.
The revised approach would let all shortlisted firms demonstrate their systems, including SoundThinking, the company behind ShotSpotter, the acoustic gunshot-location service the city stopped paying for in 2024.
Mayor Brandon Johnson ended Chicago's ShotSpotter contract that year, and the system went dark. The city has since explored a replacement, and the original pilot design called for testing one company's technology across six police districts on the South and West sides, alongside drones and license plate readers.
At a budget hearing last month, police officials acknowledged they had few details about how that original test would unfold. On Monday, Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts told aldermen that her office consulted the police department and the city's public safety administration in shaping what the revised test will cover.
The timing of the change drew scrutiny. Ald. Brendan Reilly pressed Roberts on whether the plan was altered before or after election night. Roberts said she could not pinpoint the timing but acknowledged that last week's ballot question on restoring the technology played a role.
The referendum, which appeared on Tuesday's ballot, asked voters whether Chicago should "restart use of gunshot detection technology that informs first responders when gunshots are detected." More than 72% of voters supported the non-binding measure. The result does not automatically restore ShotSpotter or any other system, but it increases pressure on City Hall to settle on an approach.
Ald. Anthony Beale urged the city to switch ShotSpotter back on by the end of the week while officials work out the details of the revised pilot.
A start date for the expanded test remains unclear, as does whether it would cover the same six police districts as the original plan.
The debate unfolds against a broader push to expand surveillance tools in Chicago neighborhoods, a strategy that has divided residents and advocates. Supporters say gunshot detection can speed emergency response and help investigators; critics question its accuracy, cost and effect on communities already heavily policed. The city's decision to widen the vendor field means those arguments will now play out across multiple systems rather than one.