PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Mayor John Tory has already backed use of the ShotSpotter system, but the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has raised concerns about the technology. Tory sent a letter to the Toronto Police Services Board dated July 19 recommending that the city expand the number of closed-circuit television cameras to 74 from 34. And in the same letter, he suggested that the city install the ShotSpotter technology “in areas where it will help detect gunshots.” “These are the tools that the (Police) Chief (Mark Saunders) has asked for and I believe we should do everything in our power to provide them,” Tory wrote. “I support our frontline officers and I believe we have a duty as a police board to provide them with the tools they need to help them do their job.” But the CCLA sent a letter to the mayor before the deadly shooting on Sunday that said the group had “serious concerns regarding the impact of new police surveillance technologies for the city of Toronto.” In particular, the CCLA said it was not aware of ShotSpotter being used “in a Canadian context.” “It is thus entirely untested in relation to its privacy impacts, its potential use as a tool with evidentiary value in our Canadian courts, or the constitutionality of its use more generally,” said the CCLA, which asked for 10 days to perform a “legal risk analysis” for the city."
STORY: "Toronto city council to consider investing in 'gunshot detection technology,’ ShotSpotter," by reporter Geoff Zochodne, published by The National Post on July 23, 2018.
SUB-HEADING: "‘The digital alerts include a precise location on a map with corresponding data such as the address, number of rounds fired, type of gunfire, etc.’ the website says.
GIST: "After a gunman killed two people and injured 13 in Toronto’s Greektown neighbourhood, city council is set to make a decision on whether or not to invest in technology that claims to be able to tip police off to shootings less than a minute after shots are fired. On Tuesday, city councillors are slated to consider a report regarding “Immediate Steps to Address Gun Violence.” Part of the item is a recommendation to council to authorize the city manager “to request, enter into any necessary agreements, receive, and allocate Provincial or Federal Government funding” of up to $15 million, which the report said would go to “support enforcement initiatives, including enhanced surveillance activities and enhanced community security in local communities most impacted by gun violence.” Those proposed initiatives include the use of ShotSpotter, technology billed as a speedier way to narrow down the location of a suspected shooting by essentially listening in for suspected gunfire around town, and then alerting police as to where it may be coming from. The system aims to do so based on the time it takes for a gunshot (or gunshot-like) noise to hit microphones that would be set up around parts of the city. According to the website of California-based ShotSpotter Inc., the system involves “gunshot detection technology that uses sophisticated acoustic sensors to detect, locate and alert law enforcement agencies and security personnel about illegal gunfire incidents in real-time.” If prompted, ShotSpotter says an alert would be registered at the company’s “Incident Review Centre,” where employees would analyze the situation and digitally pass along to police the information that they manage to glean from it. “The digital alerts include a precise location on a map (latitude/longitude) with corresponding data such as the address, number of rounds fired, type of gunfire, etc. delivered to any browser-enabled smartphone or mobile laptop device as well as police vehicle (mobile digital computer) or desktop,” the company’s website said. “This process typically takes no more than 45 seconds from the time of the actual shooting to the digital alert (with the precise location identified as a dot on a map) popping onto a screen of a computer in the 911 Call Centre or on a police officer’s smartphone or mobile laptop.” Mayor John Tory has already backed use of the ShotSpotter system, but the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has raised concerns about the technology. Tory sent a letter to the Toronto Police Services Board dated July 19 recommending that the city expand the number of closed-circuit television cameras to 74 from 34. And in the same letter, he suggested that the city install the ShotSpotter technology “in areas where it will help detect gunshots.” “These are the tools that the (Police) Chief (Mark Saunders) has asked for and I believe we should do everything in our power to provide them,” Tory wrote. “I support our frontline officers and I believe we have a duty as a police board to provide them with the tools they need to help them do their job.” But the CCLA sent a letter to the mayor before the deadly shooting on Sunday that said the group had “serious concerns regarding the impact of new police surveillance technologies for the city of Toronto.” In particular, the CCLA said it was not aware of ShotSpotter being used “in a Canadian context.” “It is thus entirely untested in relation to its privacy impacts, its potential use as a tool with evidentiary value in our Canadian courts, or the constitutionality of its use more generally,” said the CCLA, which asked for 10 days to perform a “legal risk analysis” for the city. ShotSpotter is already used in more than 85 cities across the United States, the company says, as well as in one city in South Africa. Its usage extends to places such as Chicago, where ShotSpotter says the service was expanded from three square miles to more than 100, and New York City, where service is said to have been expanded from 15 square miles to 60. There were apparently some cities that “did not have a positive experience,” according to the ShotSpotter website, but the company blamed “suboptimal deployment strategies and poor practices,” such as too small of a deployment area, failure to respond to alerts, and a “lack of community engagement.” But the CCLA said in its letter that it also had “several specific concerns with terms of the ShotSpotter privacy policy.” Moreover, the group said its concerns extend to “possible gag provisions that may be in the terms of service which would limit the ability of Torontonians to make access to information requests regarding the effectiveness of the technology if it is put in place, upon which we would be happy to elaborate.”"
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
