The Chicago City Council voted 33-14 on Wednesday to again endorse an effort to overturn Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to scrap the city’s gunshot detection system, ShotSpotter, which is set to be turned off Sunday.

For the second time in four months, the City Council rebuked Johnson and demanded that he reverse his decision to scrap the system, which he said leads to the overpolicing of neighborhoods home to a majority of Black and Latino Chicagoans.

Calling the measure illegal, Johnson said he would veto it. Former Mayor Richard M. Daley issued the last mayoral veto in 2006 in order to block a measure that would have required big box stores like Target and Wal-Mart to pay their employees more.

Johnson has been caught between two major parts of his political base for months on this issue. Some progressive Chicagoans want to see the system scrapped while some Black Chicagoans are pressing city officials do everything possible to reduce persistent levels of violence.

Johnson has repeatedly said there is “clear evidence (ShotSpotter) is unreliable and overly susceptible to human error.” He blamed the system for the death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer responding to an alert from the system in March 2021.

Johnson accused SoundThinking of exploiting Chicagoans' fears of gun violence in an attempt to increase its revenue.

The mayor has said repeatedly that the system did not live up to promises that it would reduce gun violence. On Monday, he called it no more than a “walkie talkie on a pole.”

Supporters of ShotSpotter say it is an important tool, and tout its ability to speed police to victims of gun violence in cases where there is no corresponding 911 call. The system is not used to dispatch paramedics.

The ordinance passed Wednesday is designed to give Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling the power to bypass the mayor’s office and directly ink a contract with SoundThinking, the firm that operates the system. Snelling has said he supports the use of the system, but is unlikely to sign a contract over the objections of the mayor, who appointed him and has the power to fire him.

Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry said the measure "usurped" the mayor's executive power and could not be allowed to stand.

SoundThinking offered Tuesday to keep the system on through Dec. 31, 2025, if the City Council and Johnson agreed to pay the firm $9.5 million. Officials said that represented a savings of nearly 50%.

By comparison, the city paid approximately $5.7 million for ShotSpotter between June 2023 to February 2024 and is set to pay $8.6 million between February 2024 and the end of the contract, which includes a two-month transition period from Sunday until Nov. 22.

In all, Chicago taxpayers have paid more than $53 million since 2018 for ShotSpotter, according to city records. There is no other firm that offers a similar system.

SoundThinking Vice President Gary Bunyard told a City Council committee Sept. 9 it would take some time for the firm to remove the more than 2,000 sensors that dot the city’s West and South sides, Bunyard said.

The City Council voted 34-14 in May to pass an order calling for a City Council vote before ShotSpotter is removed from any Chicago ward. Johnson ignored that vote, without repercussion.

The ordinance approved by the City Council would circumvent the city’s normal procurement and contracting process, which is designed to prevent fraud, waste and abuse. 

The City Council has the power to earmark money in the city budget for a particular purpose — such as a gunshot detection system — and to direct city staff to solicit bids to perform that work.

City and state laws require Chicago officials to award contracts to the lowest bidder who can perform the work requested by the city at the standards set by officials after that process, which typically takes months.

The superintendent of police and other department heads do not have the power to enter into contracts that do not follow those procedures and that bypass the city’s procurement department under the city’s normal rules.

Johnson said after the City Council meeting that his administration would ask firms to propose new technologies to help reduce crime and violence.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) said before the meeting he and other supporters were prepared to ask a judge to enforce the ordinance. However, the City Council does not have its own lawyer, nor can it spend taxpayer funds that are not authorized by the mayor without overriding a veto.

The showdown was the latest inflection point in the monthslong debate over whether ShotSpotter is an irreplaceable tool in the fight against gun violence on Chicago’s West and South sides or a waste of taxpayer funds that actually makes Black and Latino Chicagoans less safe.

City Council members representing the West and South sides pleaded with Johnson before the vote to reverse course. The system is not in use downtown, or on the North Side.

“We know what’s best for our residents,” said Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward), a frequent critics of the mayor. “African American and Latino communities are very concerned that we are playing a game of chicken with their lives right now.”

But even allies of the mayor urged him to keep ShotSpotter operational.

“It works,” said Finance Committee Chair Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd Ward) said, adding that it should be used until the city can figure out how to replace it.

But Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) said the system has not lived up to its promises.

“I think SoundThinking is a shoddy business,” Vasquez said. “I think when they first came in, they said it was going to reduce violence, it was going to increase convictions. It did not do that.”

But Vasquez acknowledged many Chicagoans want the police to have every possible tool at their disposal to fight crime.

“Just removing it and not having any answer at all is frightening,” Vasquez said.

Inspector General Deborah Witzburg released an audit in August 2021 that found fewer than one in 10 ShotSpotter alerts resulted in evidence of a gun-related criminal offense being found.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx released a report in February that found the system rarely led to prosecutions for gun crimes.

“The system does not work properly,” Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward) said, adding that it is no substitute for engaged residents willing to work with police officers they trust. Ervin is the chair of the Budget Committee, and a key ally of the Johnson.

"We got to stop playing chess, and not checkers, because this type of technology continues to drive community, away from what needs to happen, and that is engagement with the police department," Ervin said.

Ervin said there is a reason why the system is not in use in wealthier parts of the city, telling his colleagues that even a Saltine will look like water to a person dying of thirst in a desert.

The City Council should not attempt to strip Johnson of his executive authority, Ervin said, pleading with his colleagues to stop the “chaos and the circus.”

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]