WORCESTER — Sixteen community-based organizations in the city have signed a letter asking the city to shelve plans to adopt police "crime forecasting" technology that they say will disproportionately harm communities of color.
The groups that signed the letter urged the city not to purchase ShotSpotter Connect, a technology that would use Police Department crime data to automatically create targeted patrols.
The technology has come under fire since City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. asked the City Council in January to approve a funding transfer to pay for the technology, which was included in a package deal that also expanded the coverage area of ShotSpotter's gunshot detection system that has been in operation in the city for several years.