Last October, the city council allocated $350,000 of Uplands Oil Fund money to the Long Beach Police Department specifically for ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection System, a technology capable of interpreting soundwaves in order to instantaneously pinpoint the location of gunshots.
One year of increased gun violence later, and the City is still without ShotSpotter or any similar technology.
According to Gregg Rowland, vice-president of Sales for ShotSpotter proprietor SST, Inc., discussions with the City of Long Beach about acquiring ShotSpotter dated back to the time of LBPD Chief Jim McDonnell’s predecessor, Anthony Batts, and between then and last October included extensive contact with the LBPD in general and with McDonnell personally, City Manager Pat West, and the Mayor’s Office.
But Rowland says that once the council allocated the LBPD with $350,000 to acquire the technology, the City simply stopped returning the company’s calls.
“All I know is that it went to [city] council for approval, it got approved, we provided a proposal to the Police Department and the city manager, and nothing has happened since then,” Rowland told the Long Beach Post. “And nobody has explained why or what or anything else. We have made inquiries to the Police Department and the City Manager’s Office and the Mayor’s Office, and we really don’t know what’s happening. […] They just stopped replying.”
In December 2011, the Long Beach Police Department said that it was considering implementation of a gunshot detection system—emphasis on the “considering”—even though the City Council had already allocated $350,000 specifically for ShotSpotter’s technology. Administrative Bureau Chief Braden Phillips told the Post then that it would cost $300,000 to cover a single square-mile if they were to use ShotSpotter and with Long Beach beng 50 square miles, it would be impossible to implement citywide.
Last week, the City Manager’s Office made no mention of ShotSpotter’s financial cons, telling the Post that the City “remains interested in acquiring a gunfire detection technology […and has] engaged in exploratory discussions with various vendors who provide the technology to discuss goals and constraints that may factor into the City’s decision to invest in a product. At this time, a gunfire detection technology that meets [the City’s] preliminary objectives does not exist.”
The City Manager’s Office also declined to comment on why the City abruptly broke off discussions with SST and on who authorized the $350,000 not to be used for its specifically allocated purpose, but says that the money “continue[s] to be reserved for gunfire detection technology.”
The Post also made repeated inquiries to the LBPD and the Mayor’s Office, but received no reply. Councilmember Gerrie Schipske, the only councilmember to provide the Post with a comment, noted that although she was one of three councilmembers to oppose the expenditure, she was also the only one to ask at council recently whether the funds had been expended and why not.
“[I was told that] the amount estimated for this technology was too low and has ongoing costs which is not consistent with one-time money usage,” she said.
When informed of Schipske’s account of the City’s contention, Rowland characterized the City’s claim as less than completely true.
“I’ll say two things,” Rowland says. “We provided [the City] with a budgetary cost with an opportunity for them to appropriately size the service to their budget. That’s one thing. And we also provided them with many opportunities to negotiate to the size of their budget. And none of those happened.”
ShotSpotter technology has been in existence since 1995 and is currently employed in approximately 70 cities nationwide, including Chicago, Boston, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Oakland, and Washington, D.C.
“Like we have done with cities around the world, we can help [Long Beach] with reducing their violent crime, if ever they’re ready and willing to use our tools,” says Rowland. “[…] Whenever they want to contact us, we’ll be here to work with them.”
The Post has submitted a request under the Public Records Act for all City documents pertaining to ShotSpotter technology and the funds allocated for its acquisition. We will update this story with the results of said inquiry.