Houston Chronicle Investigation Shows ShotSpotter Simply Doesn’t Work

On July 11, 2021, the Houston Chronicle took a close look at the impact ShotSpotter has had on Houston in the three years since it was first implemented. The takeaway? This purported “gunfire detection technology” simply doesn’t work:

“Crime statistics show the technology hasn’t made a dent in gun violence in the select areas it covers – with a side effect of distracting officers from other calls for help….Despite millions being spent, the program has largely churned out dead ends.”

Reporter Yilun Cheng highlighted our coalition’s work, noting that “local activists are fighting back”:

Pure Justice, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Civil Rights Corps and the Houston Abolitionist Collective have formed a coalition called Re-Imaging Safety for Everyone to oppose police violence, with ShotSpotter as one of their first targets.

Cheng has got it right. We, RISE Houston, are demanding that the City stop wasting money on ShotSpotter—$3.5 million in waste, to be exact—and start investing in the well-being of Houston residents.

Katya Abazajian—a member of the Houston Abolitionist Collective and RISE Houston’s Steering Committee and—made the issue plain:

“I don’t think people have been made appropriately aware of the technology and its risk. It’s difficult because gun violence is such an important issue that everybody wants solved, but this just isn’t an effective solution.”

Read more here.