Lawsuit
Michael Williams jailed on ShotSpotter evidence
2021Michael Williams spent nearly a year in jail on ShotSpotter-based evidence before a judge tossed the case — fueling scrutiny of the technology's reliability in court.
GL
Individual
Gary Lauder
Lead early investor & former Board member
Est. net worth: ~$500M (billionaire 2021-2023 per Forbes)
Managing Director of the Silicon Valley venture firm Lauder Partners and a grandson of cosmetics founder Estee Lauder, he made his first ShotSpotter investment (~$500K) in 2004 and roughly $20M more over 13 years, becoming the largest shareholder (about 37.4% pre-IPO). He stepped down from the board in 2018.
On the record
Companies
Incidents in their orbit
Investigation
89% of alerts, no gun crime found
2021A MacArthur Justice Center analysis found the vast majority of Chicago ShotSpotter alerts led to no evidence of a gun crime, driving claims it wastes resources and over-polices neighborhoods.
Ban / Halt
Chicago ends its contract
2024Facing accuracy disputes and community pressure, Chicago — one of ShotSpotter's largest deployments — declined to renew its contract.