Durham school board won’t let ShotSpotter install gunshot surveillance technology
The Durham school board voted Thursday night not to let ShotSpotter install its gunshot-detecting sensors on school campuses.
“I do not see a purpose in this collaboration that would serve our mission,” board member Emily Chávez said. “I am concerned about the potentially detrimental messages that it would convey to our students, having an item of surveillance on our school buildings.”
Board member Natalie Beyer said the technology is problematic and that she would like to see a buffer zone to distance ShotSpotter’s acoustic sensors from Durham Public Schools buildings.
“Our schools are safe,” Beyer said. “I am concerned that this technology doesn’t in fact make them safer.”
The company won approval Monday night for a one-year pilot with the city, to begin in November. A company representative confirmed to The News & Observer that it had sought permission from DPS to place some of its sensors on school grounds.
“The DPS Board decision not to assist the City of Durham in testing potentially life saving technology is an unfortunate departure from a long tradition of collaboration and cooperation between governmental bodies in Durham,” Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton wrote to The News & Observer.
Middleton said the surveillance objections were ironic, since video cameras are already used on campuses.
The matter was added to the Board of Education agenda at the start of Thursday night’s regularly scheduled meeting, though the company first reached out Sept. 2, according to Vice-Chair Matt Sears.
No members of the public spoke. After a 20-minute discussion, no board member motioned to sign on with the company.
“The administration is not going to act without us,” Sears said. “Knowing that there are other options for this project to move forward, I don’t think a school is the best place to put this technology.”
Board member Alexandra Valladares asked whether there was a problem with police response times, and DPS Chief Operating Officer Julian Monk said no.
“They show up any time that our school buildings are put into secure or lockdown,” Monk said.
How ShotSpotter will work
The yearlong pilot will be limited to 3 square miles in East and Southeast Durham where the city says a third of all gunshot injuries and deaths occur.
Four DPS schools lie within the boundaries:
- C.C. Spaulding Elementary
- Burton Elementary
- Eastway Elementary
- The Whitted School (pre-K)
ShotSpotter was also seeking permission for two other locations, including the Bacon Street Center, board members said.
“Permissions for sensor placement is just one of the factors that shapes a project schedule. ShotSpotter has secured many of the required permissions and continues the process of securing the balance of those required to support the planned ShotSpotter coverage area,” a company spokesperson emailed Friday.
ShotSpotter’s methodically placed sensors detect the sounds of likely gunshots and help police pinpoint their location.
The devices are light gray in color and fairly small, about 9 inches on either side and 4 inches thick, according to technical specifications obtained in a public records request. They weigh just over 3 pounds and communicate on cell networks, but must be connected to electricity to do so.
When the devices are triggered, audio of the incident is sent to ShotSpotter’s “Incident Review Center,” where a person listens to confirm gunfire or explosions, then alerts Durham’s 911 dispatchers and police.
The company has said in its contract with the city it would “vigorously resist” subpoenas and court orders for extended audio beyond one second before a gunshot, the gunshots themselves, and one second after.
This story was originally published September 23, 2022 at 6:07 PM.
