ShotSpotter Inc., whose know-how is utilized by legislation enforcement to detect gunshots, has rebranded underneath a brand new title, after its inventory tumbled following final week’s Chicago mayoral election.
In an announcement Monday, the Fremont, Calif.-based firm mentioned it is going to now be known as SoundThinking Inc., to mirror its “holistic deal with public security” past merely serving to police make gun-violence arrests.
“ShotSpotter established the acoustic gunshot detection class greater than 25 years in the past,” Chief Govt Ralph Clark mentioned in an announcement. “As the general public security panorama has developed, we’ve developed with it.”
ShotSpotter inventory
SSTI,
sank greater than 25% final Wednesday, after Brandon Johnson’s upset victory in Chicago’s mayoral runoff election. Johnson had campaigned on ending Chicago’s contract with ShotSpotter, which had been renewed final yr by then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Johnson had dedicated to finish the deal, calling ShotSpotter know-how “unreliable and overly inclined to human error.” The newspaper additionally reported that CEO Clark reached out to the mayor-elect final week in hopes of constant the corporate’s relationship with the town.
Whereas ShotSpotter claims 97% accuracy, a 2021 report by the MacArthur Justice Heart on the Northwestern College College of Regulation discovered that greater than 90% of ShotSpotter alerts resulted in police discovering no proof of gunshots, and located a hyperlink between the know-how and stop-and-frisk incidents by Chicago police.
A 2022 report by the nonprofit Surveillance Expertise Oversight Venture concluded ShotSpotter know-how is an costly boondoggle for cities that does little to scale back gun violence.
SoundThinking shares have fallen about 27% over the previous 5 buying and selling days, and are down 18% yr up to now, in comparison with the S&P 500
SPX,
which has been flat over the previous week and is down about 7% in 2023.