How ShotSpotter Protects Your Community and Saves Lives
The short version: SoundThinking's self-promotional video sells ShotSpotter as a lifesaving tool while glossing over accuracy problems and the surveillance creep that comes with acoustic sensor networks.
Our Take
This is a manufacturer's ad, not journalism — SoundThinking (the rebranded ShotSpotter company) is telling you its own product works great, which is exactly what you'd expect a vendor to say. What the video won't mention: multiple cities, including Chicago, have dropped ShotSpotter after audits and reporting found high rates of false positives, officers dispatched to non-existent gunfire, and questions about whether the system actually reduces gun violence or just floods certain neighborhoods with more aggressive policing.
That pattern should sound familiar to anyone tracking Flock Safety's ALPR expansion. Both companies market themselves the same way: quiet appeals to public safety, glossy testimonials, and little independent transparency about accuracy, false alarms, or how the data gets used and shared once it's collected. Acoustic sensors and camera networks are increasingly sold as a package deal to police departments, stitching together a surveillance web that residents never voted on and often don't know exists.
Before you take a company's word for what's watching or listening in your neighborhood, check our map to see what's already been deployed near you, and visit our take-action page if you want to push back on unchecked surveillance contracts in your city.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of SoundThinking, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.