City councilors in Somerville, Massachusetts, are considering getting rid of technology used to capture the sound of gunfire in communities and alert police.
Somerville City Councilor At Large Willie Burnley Jr. introduced an order to discuss the effectiveness and placement of the ShotSpotter software, recently re-branded to Sound Thinking.
"For me, it's quite concerning when we have people of color who are more likely to be over-policed put in a situation where there's a technology that could alert the police to go there when it shouldn't," he said on Thursday.
He added that he has civil right concerns with roughly 35 sensors placed in Somerville, primarily in communities of color.
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"As far as Somerville goes, it seems to be exclusively in those communities," Burnley said.
He also pointed to an incident in Chicago, where police responded to a ShotSpotter alert and shot at a teen who was in his backyard playing with fireworks.
"When it comes to situations in which we are stoking fear in our police officers and then sending them into the community, I think we have to be really hesitant to rely on a technology with that kind of track record," he said.
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The American Civil Liberties Union has also called on Somerville City Council to stop using the technology.
Last week, the ACLU sent a letter, calling ShotSpotter "unreliable, ineffective, and dangerous."
SoundThinking Inc. disputed all of those claims Thursday night, with a spokesperson for the company saying, in part, "Black boys and young men are disproportionately affected by gun violence, and they, as well as their families and communities, deeply suffer from the physical and mental impacts of gunfire. They deserve a safe, equitable, and fast response. It could mean life or death for victims of gunfire."
"Police cannot rely on 911 calls when criminal gunshots are fired, because in neighborhoods plagued by gun violence, only about 20% of incidents are ever reported, according to research from the Brookings Institute," the spokesperson added.
Somerville City Councilor At Large Jake Wilson said in a statement to NBC10 Boston that he is interested to learn more about the technology as it moves toward discussion.
"I've certainly read some not-very-flattering reports about the reliability of the technology and allegations of data falsification against SoundThinking, the company behind ShotSpotter. I do have concerns the City is paying good money for bad technology," he said. "I'll be very curious to hear what our Police Department has to say about ShotSpotter's performance and role in their operations here in Somerville."
"Our priority in Somerville is always the safety and well-being of our community members," the office of Mayor Katjana Ballantyne told NBC10 Boston in a statement. "We're committed to exploring innovative ways to enhance public safety, and that includes piloting programs like Shotspotter to understand if they can help us achieve that goal. However, we take the concerns raised by the ACLU seriously, and will carefully evaluate their input as we make decisions about the future of this technology in our city."
NBC10 Boston reached out to the Somerville Police Department regarding the use of the technology, but did not hear back Thursday night.
