It looks like Chicago will have to get through another surge of summer violence without gunshot detection technology.
That much was evident after a City Council hearing Tuesday that produced more questions than answers.
Opposition alderpersons were hoping to learn why it’s taking Mayor Brandon Johnson so long to find a replacement for gunshot detection technology after he canceled the ShotSpotter contract shortly after taking office.
But Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts and a pair of deputies were the only Johnson administration officials who answered the call to testify before the Committee on Public Safety, and they refused to answer most questions for fear that it would compromise an “open procurement process.”
Citing non-disclosure agreements, Roberts would only say she is “working diligently to meet the city’s needs” and “get to the finish line.”
“An RFP of this size, complexity and nature takes 18 to 24 months and sometimes longer to award, where you have a fully executed contract,” Roberts said.
That was not enough to satisfy Finance Chair Pat Dowell (3rd).
“It is over a year… The Council is looking for some direction on when we can expect this to come to an end, where we can have a gunshot detection system that we can look forward to seeing in our city,” Dowell said. “Are we talking another six months? Three months? A year and a half? What?”
Roberts replied, “It is our desire to work diligently to get a fully executed contract and I understand your concerns.”
Dowell recalled an early morning shooting at 47th and State streets that would have gone unreported without ShotSpotter.
“No one called 911 and that young man laid in the street. And but for the gun detection technology system that was already operating in the ward, the police were able to find him, deliver medical service and get him to a hospital. And that young man survived,” she said.
Ald. Peter Chico (10th), a former Chicago police officer, told Roberts that “lives are at risk.”
“Just in the 10th Ward alone, I’ve had multiple victims lying in the alley for hours and hours. It’s inhumane to have a body laying out in the alley in rain. Animals are all over it,” Chico told Roberts. “We are going on 20 months. The residents of this city want something in place. I understand the complications. But this deserves the utmost attention.”
Chico, who seldom says much at Council hearings, played the role of lead prosecutor at Tuesday’s hearing, peppering Roberts with questions about the protracted process that she refused to answer.
“The community wants action. What can I take back to my residents? How much longer is this going to take? This is something that needs to be moved on,” Chico said.
Southwest Side Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd), one of the police union’s staunchest City Council supporters, told a similar story of a man who was shot and killed on Thanksgiving night in Garfield Ridge.
“His body laid in the street for 10 minutes because no one called 911 about the gunfire,” Tabares said.
“Gunshot technology, the system, it saves lives. How much longer do residents in this city have to wait for the implementation of a new system?” Tabares asked. “Deactivating this gunshot technology system was reckless. We’ve been without a technology like this for almost two years now. What are we doing to expedite this?”
Shortly after taking office, Johnson got rid of the controversial gunshot detection system he denounced as a “walkie-talkie on a stick” to honor a campaign promise to progressive supporters who viewed the technology as costly, ineffective and a contributor to over-policing in Black and Brown communities where the majority of gun violence occurs.
A defiant City Council then empowered Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to sign a new contract with ShotSpotter, but Johnson declared the ordinance illegal — even after negotiating a costly extension to retain the technology through the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Johnson then launched an open competition to replace ShotSpotter. SoundThinking, the company that owns ShotSpotter, was one of 15 firms that responded to the so-called “request-for-information” and one of nine companies that responded to a follow-up “request-for-proposals.”
Nothing has happened since then — even though the last two city budgets set aside a combined $13.9 million for the replacement technology.
Public Safety Committee Chair Brian Hopkins (2nd) closed Tuesday’s hearing by saying, “I share the frustration of all of you that, I don’t necessarily feel I know any more than I did at the outset of this meeting.”
Instead of adjourning, he recessed the meeting until June 3, adding he hopes to “reconvene to get answers.”