Former Boston Police Chief Bill Bratton said he was outraged by the criticism of ShotSpotter technology. (Nikolaus Czarnecki/Boston Herald, File)
Former Boston Police Chief Bill Bratton dismisses “stupid” claims that ShotSpotter technology is racially biased, saying politicians making such claims have no right to save lives. He said he was more interested in scoring political points.
Bratton, who also served as chief of police in New York City and Los Angeles, said he was “stunned” by recent criticism and calls for a federal investigation into ShotSpotter, a gun detection system that helps police respond more quickly. It has been used in Boston for nearly 20 years.
“Effectively, we want to put police in places where violence is happening, where shootings are happening,” Bratton told the Herald on Friday, adding that the machines would be used to deploy police officers already stationed in high-crime areas. He said he would only notify the.
Bratton said the crux of the criticism was, “The idea of bringing more police into minority neighborhoods.'' “I don't know of any minority community in America that doesn't want more police, I don't know any politician who doesn't want more people.” On the other hand, I don't understand what they are saying. ”
Bratton, director of SoundThinking, the company that makes ShotSpotter, and company president Ralph Clark, who visited Boston on Friday, said the technology was installed in an eight-square-mile area where crime is statistically high in Boston. I explained that there was.
“You're not going to put a shot spotter on Beacon Hill, which probably hasn't had a shot fired since the Revolutionary War,” Bratton said. “But you want to put them out in Mattapan, Roxbury and Dorchester.”
Bratton added that statistically, “most of the gun violence in the city occurs in the same neighborhoods, which unfortunately tend to be poorer, more minority neighborhoods.”
Data compiled by the Boston Police Department last year showed gun violence was concentrated in four neighborhoods from 2018 to 2022: Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan and Roxbury.
But that doesn't make the system racist, Clark said, noting that the system detects shootings but not the race of the shooter. The technology, which deploys sensors that detect sound to transmit gunshots, drew quick responses, especially late at night when people in the area are not calling 911.
Mr. Bratton and Mr. Clark are primarily three members of the City Council delegation, including Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who are seeking a federal investigation into the Department of Homeland Security funds earmarked for ShotSpotter. I was responding to a letter someone wrote this week.
The lawmakers' criticisms in the letter were informed by a report released last month by the American Civil Liberties Union, which found that Boston police records indicate that ShotSpotter alerts were not in use from 2020 to 2022. Almost 70% of cases showed there was no evidence of a shooting and were dismissed as follows: Misinformation by both Clark and Bratton.
“No customer would want to work with us if we were getting false positives, as the ACLU claims,” Clark said, adding that the false positives are due to no ballistics evidence being recovered and the shooting. He pointed out that there was a possibility that it was being confused with the fact that there was no such thing. What happened.
Clark drew particular attention to the ACLU's claim that piñata noise at a birthday party in the South End caused ShotSpotter to have a seizure. That example was cited this week by City Council President Lousie Louiseune and three council leaders, but was debunked days later in a Boston police report obtained by the Herald.
An ACLU spokesperson said the organization has confirmed that this example is inaccurate (police reports indicate officers were born based on a radio call for shots fired rather than activation of the ShotSpotter system). However, he said he supported the police's opinion. Remaining analysis.
“There is significant evidence that ShotSpotter has serious flaws and could have potential civil liberties impacts,” an ACLU spokesperson said in a statement. “Several independent analyzes have shown similar results.”
“There are various examples of flaws in this technology, including, but not limited to, reports of fireworks at birthday parties, dirt bikes backfiring, and people mistaking metal plates in the road for gunshots.” the official added.
City Council members also cited the ACLU report this week when they petitioned Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox to delay signing a new contract extending the city's use of ShotSpotter.
Cox rejected the request, saying “we have no intention of delaying life-saving measures,” a decision that Bratton praised.
The three-year contract, which costs the city $782,610, expires next month.
When asked whether Mayor Michelle Wu supports the continued use of ShotSpotter in Boston, her office pointed to Cox's comments this week.
“This technology has proven to be very effective in terms of saving lives,” Bratton said. “I just shake my head at politicians and so-called community activists who only care about saving lives.
“They're not saving lives by attacking ShotSpotter,” he says. “They're basically just trying to make a political point.”
