Paul Vallas, former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, said that removing ShotSpotter from high-crime areas in Chicago would delay police response and reduce opportunities to assist shooting victims and arrest perpetrators.
“ShotSpotter was never marketed as a violence prevention tool,” said Paul Gust Vallas, Former Chief Executive Officer. “Rather, it was designed to detect gunfire to narrow police response time to shootings to allow police to provide life saving medical attention to victims, collect evidence, and perhaps arrest shooters. While ShotSpotter was active in Chicago, CPD documented over 150 incidents where officers applied life-saving aid to shooting victims after ShotSpotter alerts. Since ShotSpotter was gutted, CWB reports at least 68 instances of individuals who have been shot in areas previously covered by ShotSpotter for which no 911 call was placed.”
According to Vallas, he addressed ongoing misrepresentations about ShotSpotter in a statement on X. He explained that the system detects gunfire to enable faster police arrivals for victim aid and evidence collection. The post highlights potential negative consequences from Mayor Johnson’s decision to end its use in the city.
In Chicago, ShotSpotter has enabled police to find and aid 400 shooting victims over five years who might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Community surveys indicate 72 percent of residents support the technology, including 67 percent of African American respondents. Its discontinuation has led to reports of at least 68 shootings in covered areas without accompanying 911 calls, raising concerns about response delays.
Across the United States, ShotSpotter has helped locate 101 surviving victims in Oakland without 911 calls and 112 in Las Vegas in recent years. The system has supported 133 arrests and the removal of 132 guns from streets in Columbus over 16 months. It has also boosted shell casing recovery rates in homicide and robbery cases in cities like Winston-Salem, aiding broader investigations.
Vallas served as CEO of Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001, implementing reforms focused on finance and education. He later held leadership roles in school districts in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Bridgeport. As a Democrat, he ran for Chicago mayor in 2023 with an emphasis on crime reduction and public safety.
