ShotSpotter renewed for 1 year in Fayetteville, city to conduct independent evaluation of results

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- ShotSpotter will remain in Fayetteville for at least one more year. In a 5-4 vote Monday night, city council members decided to renew its contract with SoundThinking for another 12 months which is two years less than what was originally presented.

In addition, the city said it will conduct an independent evaluation of its results. The vote comes as some people who live in the city raised concerns about its usefulness and lack of transparency with the results.

Back in March, Durham ended its own ShotSpotter contract because of questions raised about whether it reduces gun violence. Supporters in Fayetteville said they're encouraged by some recent drops in crime. However, critics say they still have their doubts.

During the past year, Cynthia Leeks has been against having gun detection technology from SoundThinking in her neighborhood. Leeks said she and other neighbors worry that police response to unconfirmed ShotSpotter alerts could put innocent people at risk, particularly those who have criminal backgrounds.

"They don't carry weapons, but they may be a felon, they may be drug users or any kind of thing like that," Leeks said. "And a shot is fired, here comes the police and who are they going to take down?"

She also said people in her community aren't getting information on whether it works.

"We haven't seen any changes in our neighborhood watch meeting reports. They're not detailed enough to even recognize a change," Leeks said.

Nationwide, questions are being raised about the technology. On Monday, the city of Chicago ended its contract after six years.

"All those times that we're supposedly sending officers on wild goose chases, a lot of times we're sending officers and we are diverting them from actual issues that we need to be responding to," said Fayetteville Councilman Mario Benavente. "If we're wasting a lot of police time, right now there's nothing in their review that sort of admits to that."

Last week, Campaign Zero began posting billboards in Fayetteville advocating against the ShotSpotter contract renewal.

"There's precedent for cities getting rid of this tech," said Jacob Wourms of Campaign Zero. "So over 40 cities across the country; three in North Carolina have said no to Shotspotter. Charlotte, Durham and Winston-Salem have all canceled the technology after trying it ... We think Fayetteville should follow that."

Before the meeting, Councilwoman Lynne Greene told ABC11 that she plans to vote in favor of renewing the contract, despite having questions about whether Fayetteville's recent decline in crime stats can be attributed to ShotSpotter.

"How do we know that that correlation exists? So for me, maybe we as a council are not asking Chief (Kem) Braden the right questions, maybe we need to be asking him more detailed questions?" she asked.

The Fayetteville Police Department declined to comment.

SoundThinking issued a statement to ABC11 saying it was "working closely with Assistant Chief Joyce and Chief Braden and look forward to continuing our support of the Fayetteville Police Department and the people of Fayetteville for greater public safety."