GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A gunfire detection technology that county leaders have allocated federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act dollars for will soon go to a vote in Grand Rapids.
Grand Rapids City Commissioners heard from Grand Rapids Police about ShotSpotter, during a morning meeting. While the technology is included in GRPD's three-year strategic plan, city leaders indicated Tuesday that the county had offered up $500,000 with the intent of it being used on this technology.
But there's been confusion on if this technology, which involves audio sensors placed in neighborhoods to detect the sound of gunshots, can be covered using CARES Act dollars, which need to be used by the year's end. And residents have said they'd rather see the funds put back into the community, not invested in technology.
GRPD said the technology "has the potential to disrupt the current trend." The department said Tuesday that willful killings with a gun are up 80% compared to last year.
Commissioners Joe Jones and Kurt Reppart said they were interested in seeing crime prevention strategies, like Cure Violence, prioritized in response to the current gun violence.
"I believe that the county, our colleagues in the county would be open to the idea of splitting those dollars, where again it would have dollars that would go toward ShotSpotter, but also dollars that go toward Cure Violence and or other programs," said Jones, Second Ward Commissioner.
Steve Guitar, spokesperson for the city, said if the $500,000 is secured, it would reimburse other costs in GRPD's budget to make room for ShotSpotter.
The half million dollars would cover two years of ShotSpotter in Grand Rapids covering four square miles, where GRPD says roughly 50% of gun violence occurs based on crime data. The areas include 3 square miles on the southeast side and 1 square mile on the northwest side of the city.
A coalition of community groups issued a letter last week to city leaders asking them to keep the surveillance technology out of Grand Rapids and to give more time to community engagement.
Second Ward Commissioner said that with so many questions left up in the air it had made it hard to answer the community's questions.
"It still represents, I think, some frustration from residents about through the engagement and what does this mean and just the lack of time. So I still want to recognize that and acknowledge that that people at least a number of people writing me are feeling that way," Ysasi said.
Third Ward Commissioner Senita Lenear said she felt that the plans surrounding bringing in new technology had been haphazard, which she said wasn't the fault of any one person at the city level.
"This is now kind of throwing a monkey wrench into the previous existing plan, and I don't know how do we bring it all together and make some systematic decisions so that it doesn't feel to the public as haphazard as it possibly feels to me."
City Manager Mark Washington told commissioners that discussions with the county were ongoing.
"There are a lot of moving pieces and what we hope to have is a more woven together answer with all the components that you asked for by next week," he said.
Commissioners are tentatively set to vote on this on Tuesday, Nov. 17.
The county did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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