All ShotSpotter locations
Data leaked from SoundThinking, the new name of the company behind gunshot-detection technology ShotSpotter, revealed the secret locations of the controversial company’s sensors across the globe. An analysis of the coordinates confirms criticisms that the technology disproportionately targets communities of color.
The coordinates show that nearly 70 percent of people who live in a neighborhood with at least one sensor were either Black or Latine, per estimates from the American Community Survey.
US ShotSpotter Locations
The internal documents leaked to WIRED exposed the locations of ShotSpotter’s nationwide network of more than 25,000 microphones, equipment used to detect sounds of gunfire and alert police to the scene. This is the first time information about where the sensors are placed has been disclosed publicly, and it confirms what we have always suspected: ShotSpotter is a surveillance tool used disproportionately in communities of color.
Shotspotter is just one of the most prominent technologies promising to transform policing for the better. These include facial-recognition technology, licence-plate readers, ai-assisted data analytics, web-connected cctv cameras and technology designed to locate people from their mobile-phone signals.
In October 2023 Eric L. Piza, of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, published a paper which looked at ShotSpotter use in Kansas City, where the microphones cover an area of 3.5 square miles (7.8 square km). "The Impact of Gunshot Detection Technology on Gun Violence in Kansas City and Chicago: A Multi-Pronged Synthetic Control Evaluation", found that the police did indeed find more evidence of gunfire—such as spent shell cases. “Our research found [the technology] did deliver on those promises,” he says. But the study also showed that no fewer people were shot in the area covered by Shotspotter, nor were more gun crimes solved. It is not obvious, says Mr Piza, that police know how the tech is meant to reduce crime.
How ShotSpotter Works
- When a gun is fired, sensors- usually placed on top of buildings or light poles-record the audio.
- The gunfire's location is determined by three or more sensors that pick up and triangulate the noise.
- That information is relayed to Newark, Calif., where analysts confirm the gunshots before alerting the corresponding police department, often within 30 to 45 seconds.
- Police receive audio clips and location information to help them respond to the incident. Some departments can access gunshot data on their smartphones or inside their squad cars.