5 takeaways from Durham’s ShotSpotter experiment. Will city extend a new contract?
Durham’s ShotSpotter pilot program has been on hold since December as city leaders awaited a Duke University analysis of the gunshot-detection software.
The results are in, and they show 91% of alerts without a corresponding 911 call were dead ends, but those alerts in which a shooting was confirmed helped police make arrests, collect evidence and — in one case — save a life.
ShotSpotter notifies 911 operators of gunfire detected by audio sensors in 3 square miles in east and southeast Durham, where the city says a third of all gunshot wounds occur.
Police send two patrol cars, without flashing lights or sirens, to investigate the alerts.
A one-year pilot began in December 2022. The program is controversial, and not just in the Bull City. Chicago is ending its contract with the company this year, after the city’s new mayor campaigned on a promise to do so.
Duke Law School’s Wilson Center for Science and Justice studied Durham’s experiment, and professor Philip J. Cook presented the findings to the City Council on Thursday.
(Note: ShotSpotter rebranded to SoundThinking last year, but the study and local leaders continue to call it by its original name.)
The results
Just because an alert goes off does not mean police can verify a shooting has occurred, But the same goes for 911 calls.
Police could not confirm a shooting had taken place in 83% of ShotSpotter alerts. That went up to 91% when there was no corresponding 911 call. (To compare, when there was a 911 call but no ShotSpotter alert, 72% of reports went unconfirmed.)
Of the confirmed shootings, a quarter were detected by ShotSpotter and had no corresponding 911 call.
Those alerts on those incidents, which may have gone undetected otherwise, helped increase arrests and evidence collected in the target area:
- 7: Additional arrests, a 32% increase
- 73: Additional confirmed shootings, a 35% increase
- 71: Additional cases where evidence was collected, a 96% increase
Median 911 response times to shootings improved citywide in 2023 compared to 2022, and in the ShotSpotter pilot area improved 1.2 minutes more than the city as a whole.
“The decline was larger in the pilot area, presumably because a lot of those 911 calls were now accompanied by a ShotSpotter, which came first and gave a better location,” Cook said.
In the pilot area, there were 52 serious incidents, in which someone was wounded or killed. Only half had ShotSpotter alerts, two of them with no corresponding 911 call.
Eight were missed due to “human or system failure.” The remaining misses were chalked up to the design of the system, since it does not detect indoor gunfire.
As to whether ShotSpotter reduces gun violence, Cook said there’s no clear answer.
Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton said that was never the expectation.
“There was a claim that it would be a tool useful in our response, and that it could possibly save lives, and the company said it would reduce response times,” he said.
One life saved
Last July, ShotSpotter notifications may have saved a person’s life.
Officers responding to a shooting found the victim bleeding out and applied multiple tourniquets, Chief Patrice Andrews wrote in a report to the city manager.
“The victim was transported to Duke University Medical Center and survived. The information provided by ShotSpotter helped officers respond in less than 4 minutes from when the first shots were fired,” the memo stated.
The 911 call arrived 47 seconds after the ShotSpotter alert, police said.
“That difference in response time may have been the difference between life and death for that individual,” Cook said.
Mayor Leonardo Williams said that was the only data point he needed.
“One is worth it for me,” Williams said. “One.”
A vote looms
A three-year contract is on the City Council’s agenda Monday, March 4. The public will be allowed to make comments.
The council was split on whether to pause ShotSpotter after the pilot ended, and gave little indication Thursday as to whether Duke’s data had persuaded them to keep the program:
- For the pause: Nate Baker, Javiera Caballero, DeDreana Freeman and Carl Rist
- Against it: Leonardo Williams and Mark-Anthony Middleton
- Not yet appointed: Chelsea Cook
The community is split, and skeptical
Last summer, Duke’s Wilson Center conducted focus groups and interviews with people living in the pilot area.
- 10: Uncertain about keeping ShotSpotter
- 8: Strongly oppose
- 2: Strongly support
“Participants had not observed any impact on gun crime since ShotSpotter was implemented, nor did they believe ShotSpotter could help to reduce gun crime,” researchers found.
But, those who saw changes in policing described them “in a positive light,” according to the study.
“No resident identified any negative change in police activity or tactics since ShotSpotter was implemented,” it stated. “Opposition was rooted primarily in a lack of trust rather than direct experiences.”
The two people who spoke during Thursday’s meeting highlighted the divide.
“ShotSpotter does not help fight gun violence,” said Abdul Nasser Rad, who works for Campaign Zero, a nonprofit advocating for police reform.
Rad said resources would be better used elsewhere.
But Jontae Dunston said most Durhamites don’t want to “defund the police,” especially the neighborhoods where ShotSpotter was installed.
“These are communities where no one calls 911. If you hear a shot, everybody goes on with their business,” Dunston said.
The cost
The contract amounts to $658,500, or $219,500 a year. The California company charged $225,500 to set up and run the first year.
Beyond the $225,000 cost, there was a 2% citywide increase in officer deployments associated with ShotSpotter responses. That’s time that could be spent on patrols or investigations elsewhere, Cook noted.
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com
This story was originally published February 23, 2024 at 8:19 AM with the headline "5 takeaways from Durham’s ShotSpotter experiment. Will city extend a new contract?."
