ShotSpotter: What is gunshot detection technology and is it effective? - BBC Newsnight
The short version: BBC Newsnight's look at ShotSpotter shows how another 'smart' policing tool spreads through cities with little proof it works, echoing the ALPR playbook.
Our Take
Credit to BBC Newsnight for digging into ShotSpotter, the acoustic gunshot detection system now bolted onto light poles in more than 100 American cities. The pattern here should feel familiar to anyone tracking Flock Safety's camera rollout: a vendor sells police departments and city councils on a promise of objective, tech-driven crime fighting, the system gets installed with minimal public debate, and independent audits later find it's far less reliable than advertised — misfiring on fireworks, backfiring cars, even thunder, while sending officers into neighborhoods primed to expect gunfire.
What connects ShotSpotter to license plate readers isn't just the marketing language ('force multiplier,' 'proactive policing') — it's the infrastructure. Microphones and cameras on the same poles, feeding the same fusion centers, building the same always-on surveillance layer over entire neighborhoods, disproportionately in Black and brown communities that never voted for any of it. Once a city says yes to one always-listening or always-watching system, saying yes to the next one gets a lot easier, and saying no gets a lot harder.
If you want to see how far this infrastructure has already spread near you, check our camera map, and if you'd rather push back than just watch it happen, our take-action page has concrete steps for your next city council meeting.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of BBC News, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.