Our Council Supports ShotSpotter
Aldermen Letter regarding 7 demands for budget approval.
“So it’s real important that we have the tools necessary to continue to fight the gun violence in our community. Don’t take away this tool that we need. If it was good enough to extend through the convention, to protect the conventioneers, it’s good enough to protect the residents of this city every single day. Every single day.”
“I had another mass shooting. …. This is the fourth mass shooting that I’ve had since being an Alderwoman. So I thank all of you. I thank everyone who voted no, I thank you. This is something my community needs. There were 90 shots, six shooters. 90 shots, six shooters. Not one person called the police. So, this is safe for the DNC, but not for my constituents?.”
“I know some of my colleagues mentioned about the police being able to respond, but you forgot another important group of people first responders that save lives and that’s paramedics, that’s firemen that respond to somebody that’s down and bleeding out and suffering and a lot of time fire, paramedics get there before the police so that’s also an important thing. So let’s not just forget about the police, this also helps the fire department when dispatchers dispatch the fire department an ambulance or an engine or a truck that would also save lives.”
“It’s kind of based off of rhetoric or conversations that’s put out there, misdirection conversation, misdirection in the media of the purpose of ShotSpotter. It’s a tool. It is a tool. It doesn’t claim itself to be a shot predictor. It claims itself to be ShotSpotter, after the fact. After the constant unfortunate fact in Chicago of shots fired.”
“This is technology. For all of the gaslighting attempts, technology does what it’s created to do and this is created to detect sound, particularly a gunshot. This technology brought our police to Ariana Preston. Do we remember her? Police officer killed going home. Do we remember her? I know I was at her funeral. I remember her. Luis Huesca. Not a month ago. Do you remember him? I was at his funeral as were 17 of you. ShotSpotter, a technology some of you here call racist, brought our officers to their location. Either because 911 wasn’t called or it was called to the wrong location. But ShotSpotter was able to inform our officers, inform our first responders where to go..”
“Let’s listen to the experts and the people living in these communities when making these decisions. So why are we listening to a bunch of activists that know nothing about how this tool is used and really just want to divest a vital emergency response resource from communities of color to use the money for their own pet projects. ShotSpotter cuts response times, allows officers to render medical aid faster, preserve evidence and, yes, make arrests. Opponents do not want to face this fact.”
“I’ve dealt with it. I’ve used ShotSpotter. And I’ve seen what happens. I’ve seen that it works. Many times as a tactical officer working in the fourth district. I was the first person on scene, seeing the body on the ground, several shots, radioing what I’m seeing and saying that we need an ambulance. And the next question we asked was, “Do we have any calls?” And oftentimes, the answer was “No, we’ve had zero calls.” That body that I saw down there many, many times, we can’t put a price tag on. What we’re paying for ShotSpotter is invaluable..”
“We have ShotSpotter in the 11th ward. My community wants ShotSpotter to continue to be a tool that the police can use. Every police officer that I talked to in the 9th district says the same thing. I happen to have, unfortunately, had a death in my ward. I was not in my ward, but a 53-year- old man, married with a family, who happened to fill in for a delivery driver at the restaurant that he manages, was delivering food in Inglewood. And, in an attempted carjacking, was shot and ultimately killed. There was not one 911 call that was placed for that man. ShotSpotter brought the police and EMTs over there.”
