Johnson says he expects ShotSpotter to remain through September, but dodges contract questions

Mayor Brandon Johnson answers questions during his news conference after a Chicago City Council meeting at City Hall on Feb. 15, 2024. Amid a lack of clarity over whether the gunfire detection devices will stay on in Chicago beyond this week, Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday said he has “been clear” he expects the technology to continue operating in the city through September.

But some aldermen have since said that ShotSpotter rejected Johnson’s offer of a short-term contract extension and predicted the surveillance tool will shut off this weekend. “The City of Chicago will not renew its contract with SoundThinking that expires February 16, 2024, and will decommission the use of ShotSpotter technology on September 22, 2024,” the administration’s statement said.

“The way that it turned out, we should not have expected anything different,” said Taliaferro, a former police officer and chair of Johnson’s police and fire committee in City Council. “When we say to them that we don’t believe in what you offer, you can’t fault ShotSpotter. Why wait?” “Retiring and moving away from this particular form of technology while providing a runway is what I’ve said, that’s the understanding that you all should work with, and I’ll leave it at that,” Johnson said.Johnson repeatedly highlighted the need for a runway to transition the city’s emergency response away from ShotSpotter, which uses light pole-mounted acoustic sensors, mostly on the South and West Sides, to quickly alert police about the location of suspected gunfire.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

South Salt Lake deputy mayor, HR director denounced by some as mayor's 'fixer'The longtime human resources director for the City of South Salt Lake, a confidante of the mayor is the focus of a continuing 2News investigation.
Source: KUTV2News - 🏆 281. / 63 Read more »

Mark Farrell enters SF mayor’s race — rips London Breed as ‘a mayor without a vision’'Blood in the water': Former Mayor Mark Farrell unseated Mayor London Breed once. Now he's out to do it again.
Source: SFnewsnow - 🏆 237. / 63 Read more »

Mayor Johnson cancels controversial Chicago gunshot detection systemMayor Johnson cancels controversial Chicago gunshot detection system
Source: cbschicago - 🏆 546. / 51 Read more »

IL Senate president files Mayor Johnson's 'plan' to elect 10 of 21 CPS board membersChicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's request puts his full support behind the Chicago Teachers Union to elect 10 school board member seats and appoint the other 11.
Source: ABC7Chicago - 🏆 284. / 63 Read more »

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson getting divorce, accused of cheating: reportDallas Mayor Eric Johnson and his wife Nakita Johnson are getting a divorce amid accusations that he cheated with a now former city staffer in 2021.
Source: dallasnews - 🏆 18. / 71 Read more »

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson releases statement on divorceThe mayor said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News on Thursday that he had intended to keep the divorce private until it was finalized for the sake of...
Source: dallasnews - 🏆 18. / 71 Read more »