At our January meeting we had Michael Gallaspy from Tech Writers Coalition. Michael introduced Mark Schultz, a colleague from TWC. The topic of the talk was “ShotSpotter” technology. ShotSpotter is marketed as a way for law enforcement to be able to identify where guns are being shot. There are no cameras; only microphones that are spread around the area. They say that there is a high accuracy rate yet independent research has shown a high degree of inaccuracy. ShotSpotter’s first contract in San Diego was in 2016 and was used in District 4. Their contract ended in 2020. At the moment the labor unions are slowing the process but the police department is hoping to start a new contract for D4, Barrio Logan, and D3. ShotSpotter is often deployed in non-white neighborhoods, which seems to be typical for the use of this technology. The same was found in Chicago where this technology began. UCSD also has a contract with them. ShotSpotter just bought Hunch Labs which is using algorithms for predictive policing. Mark described this as using data to suggest that crime might happen in an area so that police could be deployed to prevent the crime from happening. Unfortunately, if the police hang around an area often enough, they may pick up on minor crimes that might be missed otherwise, increasing the chances of people in those neighborhoods entering the criminal justice system. There is also the claim that privacy worries are not valid because it can’t detect human voices; However, research has shown that it can.
When asked how it works, Mark and Michael suggested that it uses a type of triangulation similar to what is used with cell phone towers, but noise is much more complex. The soundscape in a city can be changing by the minute. ShotSpotter has been used in two prosecutions in San Diego yet other cases have shown their marketing data to be incorrect. It is also vulnerable to cyber attacks. It could be compromised.
At our February 9th meeting, we will be looking at the recommendations that our November speakers shared with us to improve our county jails.