SoundThinking calls conclusions in NYC Comptroller audit report ‘misleading’

SoundThinking issued a formal reply to the New York City Comptroller’s June 20, 2024 audit report on ShotSpotter’s accuracy and effectiveness. The company said, “The 47-page response letter-which incorporates findings, independent studies, and success stories and testimonials from a broad array of law enforcement professionals, public officials, and the media-focuses on the misinformed conclusions regarding ShotSpotter’s efficacy and the role that it plays in providing the New York Police Department with an important tool to fight New York City’s scourge of gun violence. SoundThinking’s response relies on empirical data, as well as the feedback of New York City elected officials and law enforcement professionals, to refute two misleading conclusions put forward in the Report, namely that: ShotSpotter results in ‘very low rates of confirmed shots detected,’ and ShotSpotter leads to negligible improvements in NYPD response times to reports of shots fired. The letter reveals that in arriving at the aforementioned conclusions, the Report did not give full and proper weight to NYPD’s input and expertise and ignored the most critical component when judging the technology: ‘whether ShotSpotter provides awareness of gunfire in real time, if it enables police to respond quickly and safely, and, most importantly, how it saves lives.’ The information contained in SoundThinking’s response proves that ShotSpotter achieves all these goals at a rate that-the overwhelming majority of the time-exceeds the 90% accuracy standard that the company is contractually obligated to deliver each month per its agreement with NYPD.”