Mayor Brandon Johnson has labeled “a done deal” his decision to cancel the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system contract after the historically violent summer months and the Democratic National Convention.
But, it may not be done at all, if some members of the City Council have anything to say about it.
The Committee on Police and Fire will meet Monday to consider an ordinance, sponsored by South Side Ald. David Moore (17th), that would, if passed, set the stage for local alderpersons to decide whether or not to continue ShotSpotter in their wards.
It’s a high-stakes version of the ordinance that allows individual wards to decide whether or not to allow booting on private property.
Moore accused Johnson of making a “unilateral decision” to get rid of ShotSpotter that runs contrary to the needs of his South Side ward, which includes parts of Englewood, Auburn Gresham, Marquette Park and Chicago Lawn.
“The mayor reports to the people, as I do. If we say government is for the people, by the people, then we have to listen to the people,” Moore said. “My community is saying it helps. My community is saying they want it…I think we’ve got 26 aldermen that believe the way I do.”
If a majority of alderpersons agree, that could amount to an unprecedented political rebuke of Johnson — and raise serious legal questions.
If local alderpersons opt to continue using the gunshot detection technology in their wards after Nov. 22, when the hastily negotiated $8.6 million extension expires, how exactly would ShotSpotter be paid? Would Johnson be forced to negotiate a new contract with ShotSpotter against his will?
“That’s a good question. We’ve never done anything like this before,” said Public Safety Committee Chair Brian Hopkins (2nd), who wants to keep ShotSpotter.
“Aldermen cannot bind the city to a procurement contract individually. We know that because we can’t even do that in our own wards. You have to have a master contract with the city that goes through the procurement system before you can bind the city of Chicago as a party to a contractual agreement. So, I don’t think Ald. Moore’s ordinance would allow us as individual aldermen to contract with ShotSpotter and have it in place in some wards, but not others.”
Moore acknowledged that the mayor controls procurement. But he said, “We could still extend, amend or do whatever is necessary to keep this contract in place in some form…Remember, the contract was expiring that Friday and we got an extension right? So, anything can be done.”
The mayor’s office had no immediate comment.
When Johnson decided to overrule police Superintendent Larry Snelling and cut ties with ShotSpotter, he delivered on a campaign promise to political activists who helped him rise from single-digit obscurity into the mayor’s office.
Those activists have argued that the gunshot detection technology that has been embedded in Chicago’s crime-fighting strategy for more than a decade is too costly, ineffective and contributes to overpolicing in Black and Brown communities where the majority of gun violence occurs. Getting rid of it, they claim, is an important step in rebuilding shattered trust between citizens and police.
Public Safety Committee Chair Chris Taliaferro (29th), a former Chicago Police sergeant, said he believes ShotSpotter should continue citywide.
“Just this week, I had a shooting in my ward. There were no calls to 911 ever made,” Taliaferro said. “Police arrived on the scene simply because ShotSpotter brought them there. Unfortunately, the person was deceased. But, should that person have been alive or, perhaps clinging to life, that quick response by our police officers would have possibly given him a better chance of survival.”
Hopkins likes the idea of allowing individual Council members to “opt in and out” of technology systems like red-light or speed cameras.
“We’re a divided city, a divided Council. Some people like these things,” he said.
“I would put ShotSpotter devices in my ward if I had that kind of discretionary authority. I’m supportive of the concept. But in this instance, it doesn’t work. ShotSpotter is not the kind of system that you can divide up into fifty separate parts. It’s meant to be a seamless fabric and it really wouldn’t lend itself to that kind of division.”
At Monday’s police committee meeting, Taliaferro said he also plans to forge ahead with a vote on his own long-pending ordinance raising the mandatory retirement age for police officers from 63 to 65, but keeping it at 63 for firefighters.
The move is aimed at easing the severe shortage of officers that has left Chicago with nearly 2,000 fewer officers than it had four years ago, and relieving pressure on a police pension fund nearing insolvency.
