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.
RS
Individual
Robert Showen
Co-founder, Founder & Chief Scientist
A physicist at SRI International (Stanford Research Institute) who conceived ShotSpotter's acoustic gunshot-detection technology in the mid-1990s, adapting sensor-triangulation methods he had used to locate earthquake epicenters. He co-founded the company in 1996 and remains its Chief Scientist.
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.