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The rise of Fusus is concerning to rights groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has raised alarm over the expansion of law enforcement’s ability to easily surveil Americans. Notably, the concept behind Fusus’ solution is similar to technology that has been deployed in South Africa for years, and which experts have said exacerbates inequality in the country.

MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Axon, maker of Tasers and police body cameras, has acquired a surveillance company that allows police to tap into camera networks in schools, retail stores, and other locations in cities and towns across America and apply AI technology to the footage. The move comes as Axon is trying to expand its cameras into retail and healthcare settings.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

MITCHELL: Eddie Johnson. He was the police superintendent. He said the technology was ShotSpotter.JOHNSON: What this does is pinpoint where that shot came from, and we respond quicker because we don't have to wait for the 911 call. So typically now it'll be real-time deployments.MITCHELL: Johnson said the goals were arrests and violent crime reduction. Within a few years, more than 2,000 audio sensors covered about half the city, and Chicago was paying the company, now called SoundThinking, roughly $10 million a year. SoundThinking says more than 170 jurisdictions use its gunfire detection system. While cops and others find it useful, some researchers are questioning its effectiveness. Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the city council about findings by her office.DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

CHIP MITCHELL, BYLINE: Chicago has long struggled with gun violence. Seven years ago, city officials had high hopes for technology they'd been trying out in the two police districts with the most shootings.EDDIE JOHNSON: It is a good tool in terms of getting us to that scene a lot quicker.MITCHELL: Eddie Johnson. He was the police superintendent. He said the technology was ShotSpotter.JOHNSON: What this does is pinpoint where that shot came from, and we respond quicker because we don't have to wait for the 911 call. So typically now it'll be real-time deployments.MITCHELL: Johnson said the goals were arrests and violent crime reduction. Within a few years, more than 2,000 audio sensors covered about half the city, and Chicago was paying the company, now called SoundThinking, roughly $10 million a year. SoundThinking says more than 170 jurisdictions use its gunfire detection system. While cops and others find it useful, some researchers are questioning its effectiveness. Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the city council about findings by her office.DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

To combat gun violence, dozens of U.S. cities use a gunfire detection tool called ShotSpotter. Microphones dotted around town capture the sound of gunshots, which can help police pinpoint where they came from and get there to investigate. But the technology is controversial, and some cities have rejected it. Member station WBEZ's Chip Mitchell reports that Chicago let its ShotSpotter contract expire, and the city is now looking for something new.CHIP MITCHELL, BYLINE: Chicago has long struggled with gun violence. Seven years ago, city officials had high hopes for technology they'd been trying out in the two police districts with the most shootings.EDDIE JOHNSON: It is a good tool in terms of getting us to that scene a lot quicker.MITCHELL: Eddie Johnson. He was the police superintendent. He said the technology was ShotSpotter.JOHNSON: What this does is pinpoint where that shot came from, and we respond quicker because we don't have to wait for the 911 call. So typically now it'll be real-time deployments.MITCHELL: Johnson said the goals were arrests and violent crime reduction. Within a few years, more than 2,000 audio sensors covered about half the city, and Chicago was paying the company, now called SoundThinking, roughly $10 million a year. SoundThinking says more than 170 jurisdictions use its gunfire detection system. While cops and others find it useful, some researchers are questioning its effectiveness. Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the city council about findings by her office.DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

MITCHELL: Johnson said the goals were arrests and violent crime reduction. Within a few years, more than 2,000 audio sensors covered about half the city, and Chicago was paying the company, now called SoundThinking, roughly $10 million a year. SoundThinking says more than 170 jurisdictions use its gunfire detection system. While cops and others find it useful, some researchers are questioning its effectiveness. Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the city council about findings by her office.DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

ERIC WESTERVELT, HOST: To combat gun violence, dozens of U.S. cities use a gunfire detection tool called ShotSpotter. Microphones dotted around town capture the sound of gunshots, which can help police pinpoint where they came from and get there to investigate. But the technology is controversial, and some cities have rejected it. Member station WBEZ's Chip Mitchell reports that Chicago let its ShotSpotter contract expire, and the city is now looking for something new.CHIP MITCHELL, BYLINE: Chicago has long struggled with gun violence. Seven years ago, city officials had high hopes for technology they'd been trying out in the two police districts with the most shootings.EDDIE JOHNSON: It is a good tool in terms of getting us to that scene a lot quicker.MITCHELL: Eddie Johnson. He was the police superintendent. He said the technology was ShotSpotter.JOHNSON: What this does is pinpoint where that shot came from, and we respond quicker because we don't have to wait for the 911 call. So typically now it'll be real-time deployments.MITCHELL: Johnson said the goals were arrests and violent crime reduction. Within a few years, more than 2,000 audio sensors covered about half the city, and Chicago was paying the company, now called SoundThinking, roughly $10 million a year. SoundThinking says more than 170 jurisdictions use its gunfire detection system. While cops and others find it useful, some researchers are questioning its effectiveness. Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the city council about findings by her office.DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

“Axon has many existing police relationships through its [body-worn camera] and Taser markets, and every city that has an existing contract with Axon should watch out for the attempt to expand the use of surveillance tools in their streets, not only through use of Fusus but through the other tools, like ALPR and drones, which have also been a key part of the Fusus model,” Lipton continued. “Axon and Fusus may be able to expand access to these technologies through contractual amendments rather than through a procurement process with appropriate opportunities for public oversight. Local governments should always be vigilant against allowing the adoption of privacy-invasive data collection and tools, but they must be extra alert now that adoption by bureaucracy, rather than through robust public consideration, is a strong possibility.”

HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Axon, formerly TASER, Inc., has staked its entire business on body cameras and AI since it rebranded in 2017. Despite pushing the cameras as deterrents, data shows no evidence that they’ve been effective in reducing police violence or increasing transparency.

DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Axon entered into a partnership with Fusus in 2022, which the company said would allow footage from Axon body cameras and drones to feed into Fusus’ surveillance systems. Since then, Axon has announced a push to expand its bodycam business into civilian settings. Last week, Axon announced a new line of cameras called Axon Body Workforce designed to be worn by workers in retail and in healthcare. While Axon did not explicitly mention the Workforce line of cameras in its announcement, the company said that the Fusus acquisition directly supports this push.

EDDIE JOHNSON: It is a good tool in terms of getting us to that scene a lot quicker.MITCHELL: Eddie Johnson. He was the police superintendent. He said the technology was ShotSpotter.JOHNSON: What this does is pinpoint where that shot came from, and we respond quicker because we don't have to wait for the 911 call. So typically now it'll be real-time deployments.MITCHELL: Johnson said the goals were arrests and violent crime reduction. Within a few years, more than 2,000 audio sensors covered about half the city, and Chicago was paying the company, now called SoundThinking, roughly $10 million a year. SoundThinking says more than 170 jurisdictions use its gunfire detection system. While cops and others find it useful, some researchers are questioning its effectiveness. Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the city council about findings by her office.DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

“With Fusus, hospitals, schools, retail stores, houses of worship, event venues and residential communities—whole cities and towns—are better protected and, importantly, can contribute to greater safety for everyone,” an Axon blog on the Fusus acquisition states.

MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

JOHNSON: What this does is pinpoint where that shot came from, and we respond quicker because we don't have to wait for the 911 call. So typically now it'll be real-time deployments.MITCHELL: Johnson said the goals were arrests and violent crime reduction. Within a few years, more than 2,000 audio sensors covered about half the city, and Chicago was paying the company, now called SoundThinking, roughly $10 million a year. SoundThinking says more than 170 jurisdictions use its gunfire detection system. While cops and others find it useful, some researchers are questioning its effectiveness. Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the city council about findings by her office.DEBORAH WITZBURG: We looked at about 50,000 ShotSpotter alerts, and we found that in only about 9% of those did CPD make a record of collecting evidence related to a gun crime.MITCHELL: Other research found problems, too. Economist Michael Topper of the Social Science Research Council says the technology actually delays help for 911 callers in Chicago.MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

MICHAEL TOPPER: Police officers are responding about two minutes slower to get on scene. This slower response time is actually going to result in fewer arrests occurring at these 911 calls.MITCHELL: Still, others complain that, because Chicago's ShotSpotter sensors were mostly in Black and Latino neighborhoods, the system contributed to overpolicing them. That caught Brandon Johnson's ear before he won last year's mayoral election. During his campaign, he promised to pull the plug on the gunshot technology. Other cities, including Atlanta and New Orleans, rejected ShotSpotter, too. But in Chicago, there was a big fight about the decision. Some city council members, researchers and the company itself argued ShotSpotter, even if it hadn't reduced crime, had saved lives of gunshot victims. Alderman Anthony Beale recalled a cop who was gunned down last year.ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Some researchers question the effectiveness of the ShotSpotter system and Chicago is one of the latest cities to reject the gunfire detection system.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Axon acquired Fusus for an undisclosed sum, according to a news release posted on Thursday. The acquisition “expands and deepens” the companies’ so-called real time capabilities. Fusus operates what it calls “real time crime centers (RTCC)” which allow police and other public agencies to analyze a wide array of video sources at a single point and apply AI that detects objects and people. These centers are reminiscent of the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Centers—where intelligence from a diverse number of sources is collected and shared among agencies—and have already expanded to over 250 cities and counties.

ANTHONY BEALE: Areanah Preston. If it had not been for ShotSpotter, she would still be laying in that front yard. We need this tool in this city.MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

“This [Fusus] acquisition also further catalyzes Axon’s growing presence in retail, healthcare, private security and the federal space,” Axon’s press release said.

“Axon has been one of the major funders of Fusus for years, and Axon’s more recent body-worn camera models are designed to integrate with the Fusus platform,” EFF Investigative Researcher Beryl Lipton told Motherboard. “This acquisition signals the possibility of even greater expansion of real-time video surveillance and police surveillance in general, as well as Axon’s interest in facilitating local police use of real-time crime center capabilities.”

MITCHELL: But the mayor didn't change his mind. He let the contract expire. Now Chicago's looking for different law enforcement technology. Besides gunshot detection, companies are offering vehicle license plate readers. They would enable the police to generate a list of cars near a gunfire scene. Texas A&M University law professor Hannah Bloch-Wehba says that's controversial, too.HANNAH BLOCH-WEHBA: Civil libertarians are not thrilled about pervasive location tracking, but no court has said that it's unconstitutional.MITCHELL: She says Chicago and other cities have to decide whether their police officers should spend more time responding to gunshot alerts or doing things like getting to know more people in the communities where they work, beefing up shooting investigations or just answering 911 calls for NPR news. I'm Chip Mitchell in Chicago.(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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