NASW-Michigan has signed a letter urging the Detroit City Council to vote NO on spending $7 million of ARPA funds on expanding a faulty gun detector system called ShotSpotter.
The Detroit City Council is considering spending $8.5 million ($7 million of ARPA funds) on ShotSpotter, a faulty gun detector system. Every Detroiter wants our families to be whole and our communities vibrant. No matter what we do for a living, what zip code we live in, or what’s in our wallets, most of us want a good life for our families, dignity for our elders, and our kids to have the love, care and opportunities they need to pursue their dreams. But over and over again, the same people entrusted to govern in our interests, or to serve and protect our communities, fund systems of surveillance and policing that target us, detain us, and rip us from our neighborhoods.
ShotSpotter will only put our community members at heightened risk of police violence and surveillance by sending police racing on high alert into communities expecting to be faced with gunfire despite failing to result in any evidence of a gun crime nearly 90% of the time. Detroiters need ARPA funding to be invested in what we know will bolster our communities and keep us safe: housing and home repairs, social workers, mental health care professionals, and so much more. This is what we have been asking for.