For the past several years, the Chicago Police Department has solved an average of 50% of the city’s homicides per year. But that number, known as a clearance rate, is even lower for Black victims.

Chicago Police Department officials are looking to bring back a system that would track Chicagoans they believe to be members of gangs. But it’s not without controversy and pushback. 

Fewer than 1 in 10 ShotSpotter alerts between 2020 and 2021 resulted in evidence of a gun-related criminal offense being found, according to a new report from Chicago’s independent watchdog.

A new study by Northwestern University’s MacArthur Justice Center found that 86% of ShotSpotter alerts resulted in no report of any crime, leading to questions of the gunfire detection system’s value in violence reduction.