DETROIT – Detroit City Council narrowly approved a nine-month extension of the city’s ShotSpotter contract Tuesday after hearing emotional testimony from residents and sharp questions from some council members about the technology’s effectiveness and cost.
The extension passed 5-4.
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Supporters of ShotSpotter, a system that uses sensors to detect and locate possible gunfire, told council the alerts can speed police response and help find victims who might otherwise go unnoticed.
“My son just got shot; it saved his life,” LaKeisha Brooks told council.
Brooks said her family has been directly affected by gun violence and believes the system helped get help to her 7-year-old son.
Kimberly Brooks, who also spoke during public comment, credited the technology with helping in another shooting.
“My nephew is alive because of ShotSpotter,” said Kimberly.
Councilwoman Renata Miller, who represents District 5, argued the city needs tools to address gun violence and should not accept shootings as normal.
“We need a deterrent, and we do not have to accept that gunshots is a normalcy in Detroit, especially on the east side of Detroit,” Miller said.
But opponents questioned whether the system is delivering results commensurate with its price tag.
Councilman Denzel Anton McCampbell of District 7 said the city needs clearer performance measures and pointed to department data he said raises concerns about outcomes tied to ShotSpotter alerts.
“When the department’s own data shows that 911 calls are faster, that arrests only follow two to 3% of the alerts, that aid is rendered to victims that are less than 1% of the calls or cases that they get, and that we have no performance benchmarks that exist to either discontinue or wind down the program, that is alarming to me,” McCampbell said.
Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero of District 6 said the more than $2 million contract could be better spent on other public safety and crisis response resources.
“Who do we call if we have a neighbor that is homeless?” Santiago-Romero said, arguing the city should invest in crisis response units.
Detroit police leadership defended the technology, saying it has helped officers locate victims, including in areas with few occupied homes.
First Assistant Chief Franklin Hayes said in one case, officers responded to an alert in an area with vacant land and no occupied houses and likely would not have found the scene without ShotSpotter.
The vote extends the contract for nine months as the city continues debating the system’s role in Detroit’s broader public safety strategy.