Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison is crediting gunshot detection technology for hundreds of arrests and said it’s integral in the city’s historic drop in homicides.
Bettison touted the benefits of the program during a March 23 budget briefing for the Detroit City Council, saying that last year ShotSpotter notifications led to 256 arrests. And – because residents are often hesitant to call 911 in the event of gunfire – the alert system potentially saved the lives of 114 shooting victims.
The technology, which has sparked controversy over its cost and effectiveness, is currently being used in over 23 square miles of the city. Bettison said once the alerts come in, Detroit officers don’t have to wait for a 911 call. They are notified of gunfire instantly and respond within two minutes, he said.
“Oftentimes, nobody called 911 and I’ve got somebody bleeding out,” he told council members.
“(With ShotSpotter) The officers are there and able to render aid and get that person to the hospital,” he said. “Without it, I wouldn’t have the closure rate that I have and a lot of families wouldn’t have the justice they deserve.”
The chief highlighted the department’s reliance on the system ahead of the June expiration of the city’s existing contract with ShotSpotter. The technology has faced continued scrutiny from some residents and members of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners.
Detroit City Council Member Latisha Johnson noted during the budget talk that the most recent $7 million contract vote to expand ShotSpotter was “very close” and asked Bettison to detail how the department measures its effectiveness. The contract expires June 30.
Bettison acknowledged that a contract renewal is coming up and that ShotSpotter is expensive, but it’s invaluable to individuals caught in active gunfire and their families when it speeds the response to life-saving aid.
“ShotSpotter tells the truth. ShotSpotter notifies us where the scene is,” he said. “It helps us close cases.”
Resident feedback, Bettison said, suggests further expansion of the program would also be welcome.
“For residents who don’t have ShotSpotter in their neighborhood, I hear from those residents, ‘Why don’t we have ShotSpotter? We want ShotSpotter.”
Detroiter Taura Brown was one of two residents who offered public comment about ShotSpotter during the hearing, telling council members she does not support it.
“The process to get information about it is not transparent,” she said. “It doesn’t appear to serve the people and the purpose it was intended to serve.”
During the department’s two-plus-hour budget hearing, Bettison also uplifted DPD’s plans to evaluate and expand programs, chiefly its mental health co-response unit.
Currently, the program doesn’t have full-time coverage, but the department will be moving to ensure there’s 24-7 access to officers with specialized training who respond to scenes along with a behavioral health specialist.
Mayor Mary Sheffield’s proposed budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year recommends about $467 million for Detroit’s Police Department. That’s up about 2.5% from the overall budget of about $455 million adopted in the last fiscal year budget.
Bettison reiterated historic 2025 declines in violent crime. The city recorded 165 homicides last year, the lowest rate since 1965. He also noted a 23% drop in motor vehicle thefts, 19% reduction in larcenies and a 46% drop in carjackings.
Beyond violent crime, Bettison said the department this year will ramp up its focus on retail fraud and other types of property crime that also affect Detroiters.
“We want you to understand and know and feel that regardless of where you live, if you live in the City of Detroit, we care about your property as well,” he said.
As for staffing, the department’s staffing level hovers around 97% to 98%. Recruiting has remained steady over the past few years, with 335 officers hired in 2023, 293 in 2024, 219 hired last year, and 44 officers coming on board so far this year.
Of the department’s sworn officers, 73.5% are male and 26.5% are female. The racial makeup of the force is 55% Black, 37.5% white, 5.9% Hispanic and 1.5% other. There are 593 members of the department’s 2,602 officers who are Detroit residents.
Bettison said recruiting more Detroit residents is a top focus of the department.
“The team we select for recruitment is diverse and looks like members of the community,” said Bettison, noting they visit churches, colleges and high schools in the city and other partner groups to “break down stigma so Detroiters become interested in becoming officers.”
So the chief is saying that the drop in homicide rates is due to shot spotter, yet other kinds of crime that shot spotter has nothing to do with, like motor vehicle theft also dropped. The logic isn’t there. Why are we giving the credit to shot spotter, exactly? If crime is overall going down and not jut gun crimes, this could be from things like better high school graduation rates. I would prefer to spend $7mill on after school programs that support tutoring and college/career readiness that make people’s lives better and criminal behavior less likely across the board. Those are the meaningful positive solutions we need in Detroit.
None of this adds up for me. From my perspective, this claim that ShotSpotter is responsible for a significant decrease in gun violence is highly suspect. In the two or three years before this, there were HISTORIC reductions in gun violence attributed to community violence intervention groups via the Shot Stoppers program. If you look at the maps where these initiatives were deployed, there is significant overlap. ShotSpotter is clearly taking credit for the work of Shot Stoppers and using it to justify the expansion of their current contract (btw, said contract specifically states ShotSpotter’s technology is not guaranteed to prevent crime, lead to arrests, the “detection of any criminal” or prevent loss of life)
This whole thing stinks of politicking and regulatory capture. Bettison saying that people tell him all the time that they want ShotSpotters in their neighborhood, like we haven’t been watching every politician in the last 10 years asserting some bs about what the people want from behind a podium. Some ShotStopper lobbyist is running amok amongst our leaders handing out steak dinners and campaign donations with the simple goal of increasing ShotStopper’s profit margins and expanding surveillance.
Seriously, I am a person who wants ShotSpotter in my neighborhood and agree with the chief that ShotSpotter saves lives. Police know immediately where to go and have a much better chance of helping a victim before they bleed out. It also offers better data for crime mapping so the police can better pinpoint areas that have high degrees of violent crime. Shot Spotter is one tool that has helped reduce crime along with the great work of CVI teams across the city. I want our police to have everything they need to reduce crime in this city. Additionally, many people are reluctant to report crime because they fear retaliation. ShotSpotter detects unreported gunfire and deploys officers immediately which leads to better response times.
I see it as a win-win for us and the department.