Chicago Tonight: Black Voices
City Council Members Make Last-Ditch Effort to Save ShotSpotter
Clip: 9/18/2024 | 4m 27sVideo has Closed Captions
WTTW News reporter Heather Cherone is live from City Hall.
The Chicago City Council voted 33-14 to again endorse an effort to overturn Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to scrap ShotSpotter, which is set to be turned off Sunday.
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Chicago Tonight: Black Voices is a local public television program presented by WTTW
Chicago Tonight: Black Voices
City Council Members Make Last-Ditch Effort to Save ShotSpotter
Clip: 9/18/2024 | 4m 27sVideo has Closed Captions
The Chicago City Council voted 33-14 to again endorse an effort to overturn Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to scrap ShotSpotter, which is set to be turned off Sunday.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship>> City council members voted 33 to 14 today to again indoors, an effort to overturn Mayor Brandon Johnson's decision to scrap shot spotter, which is set to be turned off on Sunday.
The vote came after another intense debate over the gunshot detection system operated by sound thinking.
Let's listen to some of today's debate.
We know what's best for our residents.
>> Well, African-American and Latino communities.
Are very concerned.
That we are playing a game of chicken with their lives right now.
I think sound thinking shot business.
I think when they first came in, they said it was going reduce violence is going to increase convictions.
Did not do that.
Studies show they did not do that.
>> Btw news reporter Heather Sharon joins us now from outside City Hall with the latest.
Heather, what exactly would this ordinance do?
>> Well, this ordinance is designed to give superintendent of police Larry Snelling the authority to contract directly with sound thinking and hours before today's meeting began.
Sound thinking made what they hoped was an offer.
The city couldn't refuse.
They would keep the system operational until December 31st.
2025 in return another roughly 10 million dollar payment, which they said was about a 50% reduction.
Now, there are for acknowledged that it was up to Mayor Brandon Johnson to agree to that.
We heard just minutes ago that he has rejected that offer.
Heather Alderman Jason Ervin, who represents the 28th Ward on the Westside urged his colleagues to >> stop the seemingly unending debate about ShotSpotter.
Let's listen to that.
>> Again, we got to stop playing Not seconds because this type of technology continues to drop community away.
What needs to happen and that is engagement with the police department.
>> Heather Alderman Irvin also urged his colleagues to not vote on this ordinance, warned his colleagues from passing it saying that it would cause chaos and was an attempt to subvert subvert the will of the voters.
Why?
>> Well, Mayor Brandon Johnson campaigned explicitly on ending shot spotter.
He said it did not make south and West side community safer and in fact, contributed to the over-policing of those neighborhoods.
That was a tough argument for a lot of south and West side.
All people who pleaded with Johnson to reversed course saying that their residents there, voters were desperate to have every tool available to the police to keep them and their families safe from violence.
We also heard from Irvine that the that this ordinance was completely illegal and was really an unprecedented attempt to strip the mayor his authority to contract on behalf of the city as every other contract in Chicago has been.
Heather, what is the likelihood that Johnson reverses course?
>> 0.
We heard minutes ago that he will issue his first ever veto of this ordinance that ensures that the system will be turned off on Sunday.
>> Once he issues that veto a little bit of Chicago history for you, it will be the first mayoral veto since 2006 when former Mayor Richard Daley vetoed an effort that would have required so-called big box stores like Walmart that were just coming to Chicago to pay their employees more a truly historic moment today and city Hall, 2006, what happens next?
Well, we're going to see a lot of debate about whether the end of shot spotter is going to contribute to an increase in gun violence and deaths on the city's south and west sides.
The company said that it helps Chicago police get 2 gunshot victims faster than otherwise would.
So if we see gunfire and gunshot deaths increase on the south and the West sides.
And Mayor Brandon Johnson is going to wear the jacket for making
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Chicago Tonight: Black Voices is a local public television program presented by WTTW