Kiki Lechuga-Dupont Gardening keeps Milton Sewell grounded. The 56-year-old North Park resident embraced the isolation brought on by the pandemic by leaning on his hobby. Throughout the spring and summer, he d scout backyards belonging to friends and church members, converting bare, patchy spots into small fruit and vegetable gardens. The days between planting seedlings and harvesting can seem long and tedious. Overwatering, garden pests, or even the slightest change in weather can throw the plants off course. But Sewell lives for these moments. He enjoys lugging his tools around, shuffling back and forth between yards, working hours in the sun. To him gardening is more than just tracing the circle of life. It s about rebirth. Once the gardening season ends, all that s left is the foundation of new beginnings.
ShotSpotter Triggers Over 61 'Dead-End Deployments' A Day: Study - Evanston, IL - Only 14% of ShotSpotter alerts in Chicago lead to an incident report at all, according to a study from Northwestern University's law school.
“These deployments create an extremely dangerous situation for residents, prompting unnecessary and hostile police encounters, and creating the conditions for abusive police tactics that have plagued Chicago for decades,” the groups wrote.
ShotSpotter, a California based company that produces the gunshot detection system, has contracts with over 100 police departments nationwide. In Chicago, it sent an average of 71.4 alerts to officers each day during the period studied, according to the court filing. That included the March 29 alert that led to the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by a Chicago officer.
The Chicago Police Department and other agencies have long praised the system, saying it puts officers on the scene of shootings far faster than if they wait for someone to call 911 to report gunfire. In Chicago, its use was expanded in response to increases in violent crime; police say crime rates not residents race determine where the technology is deployed.
“These deployments create an extremely dangerous situation for residents, prompting unnecessary and hostile police encounters, and creating the conditions for abusive police tactics that have plagued Chicago for decades,” the groups wrote.
ShotSpotter, a California based company that produces the gunshot detection system, has contracts with over 100 police departments nationwide. In Chicago, it sent an average of 71.4 alerts to officers each day during the period studied, according to the court filing. That included the March 29 alert that led to the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by a Chicago officer.
The Chicago Police Department and other agencies have long praised the system, saying it puts officers on the scene of shootings far faster than if they wait for someone to call 911 to report gunfire. In Chicago, its use was expanded in response to increases in violent crime; police say crime rates not residents race determine where the technology is deployed.
Groups say gunshot detection systems unreliable, seek review
DON BABWIN and SARA BURNETT, Associated Press
May 3, 2021
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1of9FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017 file photo, members of the Chicago Police Department work with new predictive and tracking ShotSpotter technologies in a strategic decision support center at the Chicago Police Department 11th district headquarters in Chicago. In a Monday, May 3, 2021 court filing, community groups argue the gunshot detection system routinely reports gunshots where there are none, sending officers into predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods for “unnecessary and hostile” encounters. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune via AP)Erin Hooley/APShow MoreShow Less