For two decades, police departments across the United States have relied on ShotSpotter, an acoustic gunshot‑detection system whose capabilities, accuracy, and internal processes have been shielded from public scrutiny. Despite being marketed as a precision tool for reducing gun violence, almost everything about how ShotSpotter works, and how police use it, has been kept secret.
Communities have long raised concerns, and investigative reporting has documented troubling patterns: disputed accuracy rates, extensive human involvement in sound classification, and even allegations that ShotSpotter analysts modify alerts to align with police department narratives. Yet, despite the technology’s sweeping public‑safety claims and multi-million‑dollar contracts, the public remains shut out from understanding what the system actually does, or fails to do.
A landmark 2023 peer-reviewed study broke through some of that secrecy. It examined ShotSpotter deployments in Kansas City and Chicago and delivered a clear finding: the technology did not reduce shootings, did not increase arrests for violent gun crimes, and did not increase convictions. In other words, ShotSpotter failed to deliver on its core promises.
The study did find two outcomes that ShotSpotter seemed not to anticipate:
- Police recovered more ballistic evidence.
- Police reached shooting victims more quickly.
But neither impact helped the cities achieve their stated goals of fewer shootings, more arrests, or more successful prosecutions.
Given the high public cost, the lack of transparency, and the growing body of independent research, CJP believes communities deserve real answers. That’s why we are launching a major, nationwide ShotSpotter Transparency & Research Campaign.
Our Goal: Bring Public Accountability to a Secretive Surveillance System
CJP is filing comprehensive Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Records requests with every policing agency in the country we can identify that has contracted with ShotSpotter. As of today, we have identified 142 police agencies. Our goal is to file every request by the end of this summer.
This will be the first-ever effort to build a complete national picture of:
- How ShotSpotter is used,
- What it costs,
- Where it is deployed,
- How often it is wrong,
- And what real-world outcomes it produces.
What We Are Seeking
Records & Communications
- All emails to or from ShotSpotter/SoundThinking
- All internal emails discussing the technology
- All evaluations, memos, or reports assessing ShotSpotter’s performance
- All records related to false-positive alerts
- Communications regarding how ShotSpotter reclassifies or verifies sounds
- Records showing where ShotSpotter sensors or coverage areas are located
- Contracts, amendments, purchase orders, invoices, or other financial agreements
- Promotional materials supplied by ShotSpotter/SoundThinking
Incident-Level Data (2016–2025)
For both traditional 911 gunfire-related calls and ShotSpotter alerts:
- All gunfire-related calls for service
- Calls resulting in ballistic evidence recovery
- Calls resulting in arrests
- ShotSpotter alerts resulting in evidence recovery
- ShotSpotter alerts resulting in arrests
This level of detail is necessary to evaluate ShotSpotter’s true impact. No police agency in the country currently makes this information public.
Why This Matters
ShotSpotter has shaped policing strategies, justified heavy deployments in Black and Latino neighborhoods, and influenced criminal prosecutions, all while operating behind a wall of secrecy.
If a technology is driving police responses, shaping public narratives about violence, and consuming public funds, then the public has a right to see the data.
This campaign will give communities, researchers, journalists, advocates, and policymakers the tools they need to:
- Challenge misleading claims,
- Expose inaccuracies,
- Assess whether the technology improves public safety, and
- Push for evidence-driven decisions about policing.
We believe this work can transform the national conversation around surveillance technology and public safety.
To read our request, check the status of the responses we receive, and review a list of all the jurisdictions we are seeking to submit requests to for data & records related to their use of ShotSpotter, follow this link.
If you want to become a CJP monthly contributor to help us cover the cost of fees that various agencies will be charging us to access their records and data, click the button below.