Gunshot victims on Chicago’s southwest side are waiting longer to be found and treated. The city’s gunshot detection system, decommissioned in September 2024, remains offline — and 35 City Council members say Mayor Brandon Johnson is deliberately obstructing its replacement by refusing to execute a contract the council mandated nearly a year ago.
A resolution filed May 5, 2026, demands three things: that the Committee on Public Safety investigate why the mayor has delayed the contract, assess the impact on police resources, and set a firm timeline for deployment.
The southwest side has been without gunshot detection for more than 18 months — a gap aldermen say has cost lives.
Here is a timeline of the standoff:
• September 2024: Mayor Johnson decommissions ShotSpotter after the Democratic National Convention.
• February 19, 2025: City opens Pre-proposal Conference for gunshot detection technology proposals.
• April 11, 2025: Proposal deadline passes; no further progress reported.
• May 2025: Mayor misses council-mandated deadline to gather ward votes on public safety technology.
• May 5, 2026: Aldermen file resolution demanding investigation and timeline — 18 months after system shutdown.
Four southwest side aldermen and women — Jeylu Gutierrez of the 14th Ward, Raymond Lopez of the 15th Ward, Silvana Tabares of the 23rd Ward, and Marty Quinn of the 13th Ward — represent neighborhoods that have seen significant gun violence since the system went dark.
The Mayor’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Tabares is demanding transparency on vendor selection and a clear implementation timeline.
“We’re going into summer 2026 without the added layer of protection our residents deserve,” Tabares said.
Lopez is pressing the mayor on fiscal accountability. The city has allocated $30 million across three budgets for gunshot detection technology — money that remains unspent while the contract sits unsigned.
“Why does the mayor keep taking $10 million dollars from taxpayers and not putting it where the city council directs it to go to?” Lopez said.
Quinn and other aldermen are demanding a hearing to ensure the delay isn’t intentional.
He believes Mayor Johnson waited to decommission the technology until after Chicago hosted the 2024 Democratic National Convention, effectively pushing the city’s police department’s concerns out of consideration.
Between January 12, 2025, and May 2, 2026, the four wards represented by Gutierrez, Lopez, Tabares, and Quinn experienced 84 aggravated battery incidents and 24 shooting incidents. During the same period, the 42nd Ward on the north side — which retained alternative gunshot detection technology — recorded 18 aggravated battery incidents and 8 shooting incidents.
Police Superintendent Larry Snelling recommended against decommissioning ShotSpotter in the first place, citing its value in reducing response times and identifying shooting patterns. The system detected thousands of shots annually across the city before it was shut down.
The city opened a Pre-proposal Conference on February 19, 2025, inviting vendors to submit gunshot detection proposals. The deadline passed on April 11, 2025. The Mayor’s office has not disclosed whether proposals were received, whether they are being evaluated, or when a vendor will be selected.
“That’s one of the reasons to have this hearing; to make sure the mayor isn’t intentionally slow walking the process,” Quinn said. “It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility because we can’t ignore the fact that he terminated that contract for purely political reasons over the recommendation of the Chicago Police Department superintendent.”