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Forest Park council votes to allow ShotSpotter contract to expire; police exploring alternate gunshot-detection vendor
Summary
Forest Park police told the council they have experienced false positives and missed detections from ShotSpotter. The council voted to let the contract expire and directed staff to research other vendors.
Forest Park police recommended ending the city's agreement with ShotSpotter after reporting inconsistent performance, including false positives and missed detections. The mayor and council voted to allow the contract to expire rather than renew it, and the department said it will evaluate alternative vendors in the next fiscal year.
Chief (unnamed in transcript) said the system produced a high number of false positives and had missed several incidents, prompting the department to seek other technology. "We're looking at just moving away from them at this point in time, and then hopefully, beginning of the next fiscal year, bring you back another option as it relates to gunshot detection," the chief told the council.
Staff confirmed the ShotSpotter contract had recently expired and there were no termination fees to pay. The council approved the nonrenewal by recorded vote; the chief said the county-funded project was originally purchased with ARPA funds.
The council did not name a replacement vendor at the meeting and asked staff to return with alternatives for council consideration.
