(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Chicago City Council committee has heard hours of sometimes conflicting testimony as it decides the future of using Shot Spotter or other gunshot-detection technology in the City.
The city spends about $9 million a year on the cameras.
But Jonathan Manes, an attorney with the MacArthur Justice Center on Friday questioned whether the technology is worth the money.
Studies show 90% of the time when there's an alert, officers sent to the scene don't find any evidence that shots were fired, he said.
"No shell casings, no witnesses, no victims, no property damage — they find nothing when they arrive at the scene," Manes told the Chicago City Council's Public Safety Committee.
But Deputy Police chief Larry Snelling said Manes' numbers don't tell the whole story.
He said officers may arrive after the shooters have fled. If they used a revolver, there wouldn't be shell casings on the ground, he added.
"That doesn't mean there wasn't a crime committed at that moment," he said.
Ralph Clark, CEO of Shot Spotter, says even officers don't often find evidence they arrive on the scene faster. He said they can arrive in time to help shooting victims survive.
But 43rd Ward Ald. Michele Smith said she is troubled that Shot Spotter can claim an almost perfect record of detecting actual gunshots when police officials admit they don't complain to the company if the alert was mistaken.
Ald. Raymond Lopez of the 15th Ward said the technology is just one tool in the toolbox and should remain.
There will be at least one more hearing.
