ShotSpotter: Is It Worth It?
The short version: CBS Pittsburgh asks if ShotSpotter's price tag matches its results, and the same cost-versus-surveillance-creep questions apply to Flock's ALPR network.
Our Take
Credit to CBS Pittsburgh for pressing on a question cities rarely ask out loud: does this surveillance tool actually do what the sales pitch promised? ShotSpotter has been dogged for years by independent studies questioning its accuracy and its actual effect on gun violence, yet cities keep renewing contracts worth millions. That's the pattern with most of these public-safety tech purchases — vendors sell certainty, and taxpayers foot the bill for a system nobody outside the department can meaningfully audit.
It's the same story with Flock Safety's license plate readers, just with a bigger footprint. Like ShotSpotter, Flock cameras get justified with anecdotes about the cases they helped crack, while the routine, constant tracking of everyone else's daily movements gets waved off as a rounding error. Once a city buys in, the infrastructure rarely shrinks — it expands, quietly, camera by camera, contract renewal by contract renewal, with little public debate about whether the tradeoff is worth it.
If your town is weighing a ShotSpotter deal, there's a good chance Flock cameras are already going up nearby. Check our map to see what's tracking your neighborhood, and visit take action to push back before the next contract gets signed.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of CBS Pittsburgh, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.