WRAL Investigates internal emails between Durham police leaders, ShotSpotter reps

Our Take

Credit to WRAL Investigates for doing the unglamorous work of actually reading through 350-plus pages of emails between Durham police brass and ShotSpotter sales reps. This is exactly the kind of records request that surveillance vendors hope nobody bothers to file. What usually gets sold to city councils as an objective public-safety tool often turns out, once you see the internal correspondence, to be a product pitch managed by a company with every incentive to keep the contract renewed and the criticism quiet.

This pattern isn't unique to gunshot detection. It's the same playbook we track with Flock Safety and ALPR deployments nationwide: a vendor cultivates relationships with police leadership, provides talking points for city council meetings, and shapes the narrative long before residents get a real say in whether they want to live under constant algorithmic monitoring. When the public only sees the finished press release and not the email chain behind it, accountability dies in the gap.

Durham's ShotSpotter emails are a reminder that every surveillance system, whether it's listening for gunfire or scanning your plate, deserves the same scrutiny WRAL just applied. Check our camera map to see what's already been deployed near you, and visit our take-action page if you want to push your own city council for the same kind of transparency Durham residents are only now getting after the fact.