this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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Three officers approached the boy’s house, with one asking “What you doing bro, you good?” They heard a loud bang, later determined to be fireworks, and shot at the child. Fortunately, no physical injuries were recorded. In initial reports, police falsely claimed that they fired at a “man” who had fired on officers.

In a subsequent assessment of the event, the Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability (“COPA”) concluded that “a firearm was not used against the officers.” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling placed all attending officers on administrative duty for 30 days and is investigating whether the officers violated department policies.

ShotSpotter is the largest company which produces and distributes audio gunshot detection for U.S. cities and police departments. Currently, it is used by 100 law enforcement agencies.

Experts have long been warning of these tools' the inaccuracy.

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[–] ReputedlyDeplorable 24 points 8 months ago (3 children)

The information is then forwarded to humans who purportedly have the expertise to verify whether the sound was gunfire (and not, for example, a car backfiring), and whether to deploy officers to the scene.

How many cars are around that still backfire loudly enough to be mistaken for gunfire?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

In my area, I'll hear cars intentionally tuned to backfire probably multiple times a day. It's extremely annoying and sounds very similar to gunshots.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

My own car has backfired exactly once, and it's a 90s car. And that was under very specific, non ideal, "I'm trying to get the engine started and I might have held the ignition too long" circumstances.

I can count on one hand the number of backfires I've heard in the last 20 years.

[–] brygphilomena 4 points 8 months ago

My modified car does more than I like. It needs a new tune and currently runs stupidly rich.

That said, it is rarer in stock modern fuel injected engines which can more accurately adjust the fuel to the air and throttle position than old school carbs can.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Hot take, but I actually think this is a good tool. Triangulating gun fire is pretty useful.

I am once again asking for proper police training and discipline. Even if the kid was actually shooting a gun in his backyard, they never should have opened fire.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

ShotSpotter is inaccurate and unreliable. The amount of reflections you get in an urban environment make it very difficult to triangulate the source of a sound. It is falsely triggered by many sounds that are not gunshots such as fireworks and vehicles backfiring. Also, ShotSpotter costs a ridiculous amount of money that could be better spent on more police training and more patrols.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

These are good point.

Municipal government really shouldn't be signing the city up for expensive bullshit when there's so many basics to take care of...

[–] brygphilomena 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I hate this kind of surveillance.

But if it's used in supplement to an actual report or as part of an investigation of a crime identified or reported in another manner, I can see some use to it.

But as an initial reason to go look into a possible shooting, I disagree with it entirely. If it were used as a means to send potential medical aid to a location, it could be also be beneficial. But sending law enforcement is the wrong response, imo. We would need to rework our first responder system though and stop sending police to every fucking thing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I absolutely agree that it's being used in a terrible way, I just think it's valuable to get a relatively precise location when deploying the first response - so I can accept the development of such a technology

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

for anyone wanting defend this kind of technology, i get you on principle but remember you don’t even need to scroll past the first two sentences of the Wikipedia article to identify how bad this specific implementation is:

SoundThinking, Inc. (formerly ShotSpotter Inc.) is a publicly traded, Fremont, California-based company known for its controversial gunfire locator service.[2][3] ShotSpotter claims it can identify whether or not a gunshot was fired in an area in order to dispatch law enforcement, though researchers have noted concerns about effectiveness, reliability, privacy, and equity.

Highly recommend reading the full article; it reads like dark satire how bad this million dollar “technology” is

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

Cops love wandering out into the city and gunning down innocent people. Stuff like shot spotter just gives them more excuses.