In the face of these challenges, ShotSpotter is fighting to retain customers and draw in new ones by steering federal grants to police departments and firing back against criticism with campaigns to defend its reputation and bottom line, NBC News found. The company, which was on pace to bring in revenues of about $60 million in 2021, has spent more than $1 million on legal fees and public relations efforts, which ShotSpotter expects to wipe out any profits from last year, according to its financial statements. The company’s stock price has declined since the summer amid criticism that its technology does little to curb crime, costs too much and could lead to excessive police responses in Black and Latino communities.
In an examination of ShotSpotter’s business activities - how it attracts new clients while fending off calls for police to drop the technology - NBC News found that the company exerts influence at both ends of the federal money pipeline, lobbying Congress and federal agencies for grants and other spending programs that can be used to pay for its products, while also shepherding local police departments through the process to obtain that money. It also reveals some of the company’s efforts to respond to questions about the technology’s effectiveness. When asked about the email in January, Johnson said that he’s learned more about ShotSpotter recently and believes the technology can sometimes be helpful in solving shooting cases, though his office has never used it as evidence.īut that brief exchange in August last year provides a glimpse into a widening debate over the company’s signature crime-fighting tool, which dozens of cities have adopted as a way to deal with a rise in shootings and homicides. “Congratulations to those cities that have been successful in their implementation of your product,” Johnson continued, “but in my opinion the money would be better spent installing video cameras around the city that show what happens rather than a bunch of microphones that ‘listen.’” “Although I obviously don’t have personal knowledge of all gun violence cases that happen in Little Rock, I do review every homicide case that happens here and have never seen a file with shotspotter information,” he wrote, according to emails obtained by NBC News through a public records request. Johnson responded less than an hour after he received Clark’s email. He thought the money Little Rock was paying the company - about $143,000 a year to lease gunshot detection devices covering a 2-square-mile section of the city, backed by a federal grant - would get better results if it was used on a more proven technology. “We would be grateful if you could start to engage with the media now about the positive impact it has made in your city or town, whether through interviews, bylined pieces or social media posts,” he wrote.īut Johnson, the chief deputy for Arkansas’ Sixth Judicial District Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, hadn’t seen much proof that ShotSpotter was helping the problem in Little Rock, which was suffering from one of its worst years of gun violence.
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