At a January public meeting, Chicago Police Dept. (CPD) Superintendent Larry Snelling lent support to the controversial Shotspotter system—which Mayor Brandon Johnson has opposed.

Shotspotter sound detection equipment.
Source: SoundThinking Inc.

The top cop's remarks came at a January 13, 2024 public meeting of Chicago's Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability.

The comments of city officials and Chicagoans came after a 2021 report by the city's Office of Inspector General (OIG) that questioned the value of Shotspotter. In the report's summary, OIG wrote, "The CPD data examined by OIG does not support a conclusion that ShotSpotter is an effective tool in developing evidence of gun-related crime."

At the Jan. 13 meeting, Snelling pushed back. Shotspotter critics, Snelling said, tie "sound detection to a lot of things that it's not tied to. You can read studies . . . There's a lot of things that are written. And people talk about data, or [say] 'the data doesn't lie.' People do. And until you actually see it, you don't necessarily understand it."

The audio presents questions from two meeting attendees about Shotspotter. The questions got vigorous responses from Snelling, and from CCPSA president Anthony Driver.

Length 17.5 minutes standard.

Music: "fuck w the wasp (& get the stinger)" by Health & Beauty
Copyright 2018 (CC BY-SA).

Standard audio: