A Chicago grandfather was jailed for nearly a year due to evidence from a secretive network of acoustic sensors mounted across the city’s South Side. AP investigation by GaranceBurke JulietLinderman MarthaMendoza MTarm AP supported by pulitzercenter
His three daily calls to her had become a lifeline, but when they dwindled to two, then one, then only a few a week, the 65-year-old Williams felt he couldn’t go on. He made plans to take his life with a stash of pills he had stockpiled in his dormitory.
Williams’ experience highlights the real-world impacts of society’s growing reliance on algorithms to help make consequential decisions about many aspects of public life. Nowhere is this more apparent than in law enforcement, which has turned to technology companies like gunshot detection firm ShotSpotter to battle crime. ShotSpotter evidence has increasingly been admitted in court cases around the country, now totaling some 200.
The company’s methods for identifying gunshots aren’t always guided solely by the technology. ShotSpotter employees can, and often do, change the source of sounds picked up by its sensors after listening to audio recordings, introducing the possibility of human bias into the gunshot detection algorithm. Employees can and do and modify the location or number of shots fired at the request of police, according to court records.
Researchers who took a look at ShotSpotter’s impacts in communities where it is used came to a different conclusion.published in April in the peer-reviewed Journal of Urban Health examined ShotSpotter in 68 large, metropolitan counties from 1999 to 2016, the largest review to date. It found that the technology didn’t reduce gun violence or increase community safety.
“We have a constitutional right to confront all witnesses and evidence against us, but in this case the ShotSpotter system is the accuser, and there is no way to determine if it’s accurate, monitored, calibrated or if someone’s added something,” said Katie Higgins, a defense attorney who has successfully fought ShotSpotter evidence. “The most serious consequence is being convicted of a crime you didn’t commit using this as evidence.
That system can “forecast when and where crimes are likely to emerge and recommends specific patrols and tactics that can deter these events,” according to the company’s 2020filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it plans to expand in Latin America and other regions of the world. It recently appointed Roberta Jacobson, the former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, to its board.
Looters had beaten him to it. Six days before in Minneapolis, George Floyd had been killed by police officer Derek Chauvin. Four hundred miles away, in Williams’ neighborhood, outrage boiled over. Shops were torn up, store windows broken, fires burned. “It shocked me so badly, the only thing I can do was slump down in my car,” he said. As Herring bled all over the seat from wounds to the side of his head, Williams ran a red light to escape.Williams drove his passenger to St. Bernard Hospital, where medical workers rushed Herring into the emergency room and doctors fought to save his life.
That was all when he was a younger man. Williams said he had moved on with life, avoiding legal trouble since his last release more than 15 years ago and working numerous jobs. Prosecutors also leaned on a surveillance video showing that Williams’ car ran a red light, as did another car that appeared to have its windows up, ruling out the possibility that the shot came from the other car’s passenger window, they said.
“The concern about ShotSpotter being used as direct evidence is that there are simply no studies out there to establish the validity or the reliability of the technology. Nothing,” said Tania Brief, a staff attorney at The Innocence Project, a nonprofit which seeks to reverse wrongful convictions.
“We were at the point where George Floyd had been murdered and there was a lot of push around racism and discrimination in the district. There was this mounting questioning about that investment in particular,” Islas said. ShotSpotter says it’s constantly fine-tuning its machine learning model to recognize what is and isn’t a gunshot sound by getting detectives and investigators to add crime scene observations to its system. As a part of that process, which they call “ground truth,” ShotSpotter asks patrol officers to add and notate shell casings, bullet holes, gather witness testimony and other “evidence of gunfire” using its software.
ShotSpotter said the more data it receives from police, the more accurate its model becomes. The company says their system is accurate 97% of the time. “Yes, it is. It happens all the time,” said Greene. “Typically, you know, we trust our law enforcement customers to be really upfront and honest with us.”
In court filings, ShotSpotter acknowledged: “Our experts are trained using a variety of ‘on the job’ training sessions, and transfer of knowledge from our scientists and other experienced employees. As such no official or formal training materials exist for our forensic experts.”Chicago’s three-year, $33 million contract,
ShotSpotter maintains it had warned prosecutors not to rely on its technology to detect gunshots fired inside vehicles or buildings.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
NBA's Malik Beasley Released From Jail Early, 'I'm Free!'Malik Beasley was released from jail over a month earlier than expected.
Consulte Mais informação »
AP Source: Biden to require vaccines for nursing home staffBREAKING: The Biden administration will move to require that nursing home staff are vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding, according to an AP source.
Consulte Mais informação »
Sam Hunt Pleads Guilty in DUI Case, Gets Suspended Jail SentenceSam Hunt pleads guilty in DUI case, gets suspended jail sentence
Consulte Mais informação »
Tencent to Work With Chinese Regulators to Limit Minors’ Online Game TimeChinese tech giant Tencent says it will work with Chinese regulators to limit the amount of money and time minors spend on online games across its platforms
Consulte Mais informação »
This Startup Just Raised $8 Million To Connect People To Virtual Support GroupsThrough AI technology, Circles matches patients with people going through similar challenges.
Consulte Mais informação »