ShotSpotter Technology to assist finding celebratory gunfire
The short version: SoundThinking's own promo video sells ShotSpotter as a holiday gunfire detector, but the pitch glosses over what the always-on microphone network does the other 363 days a year.
Our Take
Notice who's telling this story: SoundThinking, the company that sells ShotSpotter, made this video about SoundThinking's product. That's not commentary, it's a sales reel dressed up as a holiday news segment. When the vendor is also the narrator, "celebratory gunfire" becomes a friendly, low-stakes hook to sell a system that runs 24/7/365, not just on New Year's and the Fourth of July.
That's the pattern with acoustic gunshot detection: introduce it as a seasonal safety tool, then quietly leave the microphones on all year, feeding a permanent surveillance layer over entire neighborhoods. These systems have a documented history of false positives, uneven deployment concentrated in over-policed communities, and murky data-sharing arrangements — none of which show up in a company's own highlight reel.
If a network like this (or Flock's camera systems) is listening or watching in your city, you deserve to know where and under what rules. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and visit take action for ways to push back on surveillance expansion sold to you as a public safety favor.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of SoundThinking, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.