Roberts told aldermen that the administration initially planned a pilot with one vendor that had not gone through the full competitive bidding process. Now, all firms on the short list will have the opportunity to demonstrate their violence-prevention strategies. The pilot will still test a range of tools, including expanded violence intervention, drone-based situational awareness, license plate recognition, and incident-response systems for evidence preservation. Gunshot detection remains only one component.

Roberts acknowledged that the referendum results influenced the mayor's thinking. "The information from the referendum does play [into the mayor's thinking] because … it spoke loudly. That's what the community wants. So we are listening — not just to the alders. We're listening to what the community wanted just as well," she said. She also cited input from police district personnel and a letter from SoundThinking, the parent company of ShotSpotter, which warned that it should be included if the city planned to test gunshot detection because it was one of the short-listed firms.

Johnson canceled the city's ShotSpotter contract in 2024, fulfilling a campaign promise to progressive supporters who viewed the technology as costly, ineffective, and a driver of overpolicing in Black and Brown neighborhoods. He derisively called it a "walkie-talkie on a stick." The City Council later empowered then-Police Supt. Larry Snelling to sign a new contract with ShotSpotter, but Johnson declared the ordinance illegal. He negotiated a costly extension to keep the technology through the 2024 Democratic National Convention, then launched an open competition to replace it. SoundThinking was one of 15 firms responding to a request for information and one of nine responding to a follow-up request for proposals.

The pilot is slated to begin in six police districts: Wentworth, Calumet, Englewood, Deering, Ogden, and Harrison. Roberts had infuriated Council members by sending a letter announcing the pilot's launch without appearing at a prior hearing.

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), a frequent Johnson critic, accused the mayor of using the pilot as a stalling tactic to get past the mayoral election. "People are bleeding out in the street every single day because we don't have this technology, and we don't have time to play games with a hypothetical pilot program that we're making up in order to make it seem like we're doing something," Beale told Roberts. He likened the strategy to Russian roulette with residents' lives.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) noted that Chicago has gone more than two years without gunshot detection and that bids to replace the technology came in 18 months ago. Instead of selecting a replacement, Johnson announced a "no-bid pilot," Reilly said.

A SoundThinking spokesperson said the administration never contacted the company after its fall 2025 oral presentation and live-fire demonstration. The spokesperson added that voters who backed the referendum "deserve to be heard, particularly in communities where gun violence is, unfortunately, a lived experience."

Budget Chair Jason Ervin (28th) struggled to understand Roberts' explanation of the change, asking at one point, "What's that mean in English?"

The mayor's shift comes as the City Council's aldermanic opposition demands that Johnson revamp his proposed $17.6 billion budget, which they say lacks the votes to pass. The gunshot-detection pilot is expected to proceed with the expanded vendor list, though a timeline has not been announced.