Posted on 11/20/2019 1:13:37 PM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS obtained a string of emails between St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell that shows the mayor opposes the purchase and use of ShotSpotter technology.
In the emails, Axtell uses multiple examples of cities that use and benefit from ShotSpotter computer software, but Carter responded to those emails with evidence of his own suggesting the technology has not worked to reduce gun violence on some of the cities which use it.
In one exchange, Carter said to Axtell, "I appreciate your desperation to identify every tool to reduce and eliminate gun violence in our city. The ShotSpotter sales pitch was certainly impressive, but it's still a sales pitch. I'm going to push past anecdote/rhetoric and sales gimmicks to invest in innovative approaches that are backed by data and evidence."
Axtell replied, "This is not an approach from a place of desperation. It is my recommendation based on my experience as the Chief of Police and 31-year police officer. I certainly don't take this personally, but if you will not support ShotSpotter and my efforts to make it affordable to our city, I will abandon this idea and move on."
In that same set of emails, Axtell let Carter know the state of Minnesota, through the Department of Public Safety, is willing to give St. Paul a $500,000 grant to help pay for the ShotSpotter technology, which Axtell estimated to cost $750,000.
ShotSpotter notifies officers within 30 seconds of a shooting and gives them a precise location. St. Paul was considering a test run with the technology in a three-square-mile area in the Frogtown area and east side. Dai Thao represents the Frogtown area on the St. Paul City Council. He told KSTP he was disappointed the mayor does not want to explore even a test run of ShotSpotter. "These are very important decisions for the safety of our neighborhoods," Thao said. "We should try it for a year or two, and if the data shows it doesn't reduce gun violence, we can just turn it off."
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher also told KSTP he supported Axtell's efforts to bring ShotSpotter technology to St. Paul and use state grant money to do it.
"This makes sense from a law enforcement perspective and a financial perspective," said Fletcher. "ShotSpotter will help us get to the exact location of a shooter in 30 seconds instead of two to three minutes and we will catch more of the people who are firing these guns, too." A spokesperson with Carter's office said the mayor was unavailable for an interview but did issue a statement to KSTP that indicates the mayor will talk about this issue when he presents his supplemental budget to the City Council Wednesday afternoon.
"Tomorrow Mayor Carter will address the City Council directly, proposing over a million dollars of annual public safety investments rooted in data and evidence to end the cycles of violence that have afflicted our city for far too long," the spokesperson said.
Carter is more of a community organizer Obama wanna be. He thinks that Town Hall meetings and bullhorn rallies in the streets will stop the ever increasing number of shootings in St. Paul.
He's afraid that if shot spotter technology is used in St. Paul, we'd all see that the bad guys all look like the Mayor.
I seem to remember positive reports about it, or something like it, in East Palo Alto.
And...............
[He’s afraid that if shot spotter technology is used in St. Paul, we’d all see that the bad guys all look like the Mayor.]
Cuz we can’t have proof of where the crime is worst.....
That’s about the size of it.
I fully expect that a gun “buy-back” program will be announced shortly.
i don’t think he cares about stopping the shootings, I think he’s just wanting to give that money to his political supporters in the communities under the guise of “community enforcement”. Why waste the money on known technology when we can pay back voters with jobs and midnight basketball.
Exactly. He will continue to blame whitey and suck up all the federal money he can to help the “oppressed”.
They had a trial up in Sacramento a year or two ago.
It works, no question.
But you need to cover the city in microphones every couple of miles. So cops put them where they know the most gun crime is.
NAACP and others take great offense at that.
Hey, people rob banks because that’s where the money is.
Carter is so concerned about the increase of shootings in St. Paul but not so concerned about technology that may help police catch the bad guys.
[Carter is so concerned about the increase of shootings in St. Paul but not so concerned about technology that may help police catch the bad guys.]
Of course our intention was to talk them up and immediately get them to the nearest AA meeting... Just as our DI trained us to do...
Mr. Mayor is worried that all his voter base will be locked away and he won't be reelected.
Just caught a snippet of the Mayor on the news. Taxes are going up and among other useless measures, they’ll be building “safe spaces”.
Oh, and he referred to the ShotSpotter system as a “toy”.
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