Worcester Police Seek Crime Predicting Tool, Opposed By Activists

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester police want to spend $150,000 to expand a gunshot detection system, but the expansion may mean the city adopts a controversial crime forecasting system that is not yet in wide use in the U.S.

Worcester police officials went to City Council Tuesday to ask to expand the department's ShotSpotter gunshot detection system. Chief Steven Sargent wants to expand ShotSpotter by almost three miles to include parts of the Lincoln Street and the Brittan Square and Bell Hill neighborhoods.

ShotSpotter Inc. has offered Worcester a discount on the expansion: if the department signs up for ShotSpotter Connect, the city will get a discount of one free mile of gunshot detection coverage for one year. That would mean about $80,000 in savings on the gunshot detection system.

The ShotSpotter Connect system promises to forecast crime using an algorithm, which uses data on past crime events. It's in use in five cities in the U.S. so far, including Chicago, Savannah, Ga. and Wilmington, N.C.

"The system incorporates data such as crime events, temporal cycles and geographic variables to produce high probability crime forecasts," Sargent wrote in a memo. "These forecasts are then turned into patrol plans ("directed patrols" or "patrols") that are available to commanders, crime analysts and officers in the field."

The group DefundWPD urged residents to attend the meeting to speak out against ShotSpotter Connect. Many speakers said the technology is unproven, a waste of money and may bolster over-policing due to its reliance on historical crime data.

Worcester resident Marie Brouillette said the technology was just "optics" to make Worcester look like it's improving police tactics, but said the money should go into the community instead.

Worcester should not "get distracted by something new, but ultimately unproved and potentially really, really dangerous," she said.

Deputy Chief Paul Saucier told Councilors the system would allow the department to deploy police to "micro hot spots" — approximately 250 square-meter areas where the ShotSpotter Connect system predicts crime will happen.

"It's basically making us more efficient," Saucier said. "We are not overloading neighborhoods with police officers."

The ShotSpotter Connect software divided the Council, although most members were in favor of the expansion of the gunshot detection piece.

District 1 Councilor Sean Rose said he couldn't move forward with the ShotSpotter Connect software without "reassuring our constituents that there isn't some of the concern that have been referenced today around artificial intelligence."

Ultimately, the Council decided to spend the $150,000 to expand the gunshot detection system, but excluding the ShotSpotter Connect discount. The Council also voted to hold public hearings on ShotSpotter Connect in At-Large Councilor Kathleen Toomey's Public Safety Committee.