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Mayor Accepts Advisory Group Plan to Install Invasive,
Ineffective "Shot Spotter"

In August, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty appointed three new members to the Focused Intervention Team Community Oversight Group (FITCOG), the group overseeing the latest rendition of the discriminatory Gang Enforcement Team. The new members are Taylor Stone, Terrence Hayes, and Sean Jacobson, enlarging the group to 11 members. In July, the FITCOG proposed that the city implement the Shot Spotter program (PPR #87). Shot Sp otter is a for- profit company that capitalizes on peoples' fear of gun violence by selling a program that involves installing listening devices in neighborhoods with a history of gun violence, predominantly already over-policed Black and Brown neighborhoods. These recording devices use algorithms to try and determine if a gun has been fired, triangulates the location of the loud sound and alerts the police to respond to a possible shooting. In September, Mayor Ted Wheeler told FITCOG he plans to implement the program anyway (KOIN-6TV, September 23).

A 2021 study from the MacArthur Justice Center determined that Shot Spotter is "dangerously inaccurate." Their Chicago study found 89% of the police responses to Shot Spotter alerts failed to turn up any evidence of a gun-related crime. Portland does not need false calls to police. A May 6 Oregon Public Broadcasting article said that in Portland, police response times to 911 calls have steadily increased. In the fiscal year 2019-20, police response time for high priority (imminent danger) calls averaged eight minutes from dispatch to when officers arrived at the scene. Currently, the average police response time to high priority calls is approximately 20 minutes, a 250% increase. In May 2021, the Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC), overseen by Commissioner Mapps, implemented new technology for the 911 dispatchers. One year later, 911 hold times and dispatch times skyrocketed. The national standard is for dispatch to answer 95% of 911 calls within 20 seconds. In 2020, Portland was at 87% answered within 20 seconds and by March 2022 it was only 40%. It is possible that adding Shot Spotter to BOEC's workload could end up delaying legitimate police responses.

Many community members and groups are trying to block the expensive, intrusive, and reportedly ineffective program. Mayor Wheeler's office was expected to announce a community forum on Shot Spotter sometime in December 2022 before the pilot program goes to City Council for a vote.

January, 2023
Also in PPR #88

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