The acquisition of SoundThinking and the acoustics of ShotSpotter, a notorious predictive policing software, tells WIRED

SoundThinking, which makes ShotSpotter, is quietly acquiring the staff, patents, and customers of the firm that created PredPol, a notorious predictive policing software,WIRED has learned.

Brian MacDonald, the CEO of Geolitica, declined an interview and did not give an answer about the acquisitions. Rob Merritt, a third party spokesman for SoundThinking tells WIRED that there’s going to be a shutdown at the end of the year.

“We have already hired their engineering team,” Clark said during the call, a transcript of which is public. The acquisition of patents and staff will allow for the application of machine learning technology to public safety.

Attorneys for the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)—a leading US-based civil liberties group—argue that “substantial evidence” suggests American cities are disproportionately deploying an acoustic tool known as ShotSpotter in majority-minority neighborhoods. Citing past studies, EPIC alleges that data derived from its sensors have encouraged some police departments to spend more and more time patrolling areas where the fewest number of White residents live—an allegation disputed by SoundThinking, the system’s manufacturer.

“As a moment of tech history, the purchase is significant,” Andrew Ferguson, an American University law professor and author of The Rise of Big Data Policing, tells WIRED. “We are in a consolidation moment with big police tech companies getting bigger, and this move is one step in that process.”

In recent years, police departments have dropped PredPol after ultimately finding it ineffective. In 2019, a report by the Los Angeles Police Department’s inspector general found that it was unclear whether PredPol had any effect on crime trends. The LAPD, which was the earliest adopter of PredPol, and had even partnered with researchers to develop the technology, dropped the product in 2020, citing budget costs.

News investigations in Ohio and Texas have similarly raised doubts about the system’s effectiveness, revealing that in some cases its alerts have delayed responses to 911 calls. Working to expand the use of ShotSpotter in Houston in late 2020, the city also green-lit a pilot program that saw sensors deployed across two areas where communities are between 80 and 95 percent people of color.

Critics of the technology claim that the system is being deployed to justify overpolicing mainly Black neighborhoods, despite it’s widespread use across the US.

In a letter today to Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, attorneys for EPIC call for an investigation into whether cities using ShotSpotter are running afoul of the Civil Rights Act—namely, Title VI, which forbids racial discrimination by anyone who receives federal funds.