TAMPA, Fla. — Civil rights advocates are still peeved at Tampa City Council and Tampa police after an unannounced revote on funding a controversial program.
In June, the council approved $280,000 for the gunshot-detecting technology, ShotSpotter.
It was a heated meeting on June 20 when leaders revoted to approve money for ShotSpotter weeks after first voting not to renew the yearly contract that’s been in effect since 2019.
"If we end up taking additional testimony, I think it's inappropriate without public notice and going to another meeting,” said Councilmember Alan Clendenin.
It wasn't on the agenda, but Tampa police were there lined up to push for the gunshot-detecting microphones.
"Only the administration who asked people to come out and speak, got that notice,” said Councilmember Lynn Hurtak, who made multiple motions to delay the revote and divert the money to hiring more police officers.
Those motions failed and the revote occurred on a motion by councilmember Gwen Henderson, who voted in early June to stop the contract but reconsidered her vote and ultimately was the deciding vote in a 4-3 decision.
"The city of Tampa is constantly, constantly, constantly telling us what's best for us because they say they know,” says Hillsborough NACCP President Yvette Lewis, who is upset they weren’t notified of a revote.
“We just happened to be down there regarding something else,” she says. “We had no clue.”
ShotSpotter is only in East Tampa, north of Columbus Boulevard. Police say it helps solve crimes and save lives, citing cases in recent years where victims were only found by police and given aid because ShotSpotter heard the shots.
At a town hall last week in New Tampa, some residents wanted it, but that idea was shot down.
“In other places where we don't see a lot of gunshots, we don't see a lot of violent crime, practically every time gunshots are heard, someone calls 9-1-1,” said TPD Major Patrick Messmer at the meeting.
Police Chief Lee Bercaw says ShotSpotter was activated around 500 times last year, picking up thousands of gunshots.
Only 24% of the time was there a related 911 call, which is why they say it can be very helpful in alerting officers where they are needed.
However, there were just 13 arrests attributed to the tech.
"I would say it isn't the catch-all and the cure-all to what's going on,” Lewis says.
But despite concerns and reports from other cities like Boston that it's not effective in reducing crime and leads officers to dead ends, some in East Tampa are glad it's staying.
“I talked to some of the majors, captains, the officers, and they're all saying it helps them with their job,” says community activist Kella McCaskill, who adds that the controversy is partly due to residents learning more about ShotSpotter and wanting to be more involved in talks about its use where they live.
“Now we can ask for data,” she says. “How many calls that you get where there was nothing there.”
“Was that fireworks? Was that a loud sound and it sent off a signal and it was a false alarm? How much of that has been happening? [We will] find ways to do some kind of tracking for it going forward.”
Other advocates, like Lewis and East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area member Connie Burto,n say instead ShotSpotter money should go to hiring more police officers or economic programs to address what they say are the root causes of gun violence.