CLEVELAND — Some Cleveland City Council members are upset the administration renewed the ShotSpotter contract without talking to them first.
ShotSpotter alerts police to gunfire in the city.
Last fall, experts at CSU said ShotSpotter put more strain on police, creating longer response times for Priority 1 calls, which are more serious.
At Wednesday’s safety committee meeting, council members put Safety Director Wayne Drummond on the spot about what some call a loophole in the system.
Drummond apologized to council members and said he decided to bring the ShotSpotter renewal to the Board of Control.
Two weeks ago, the Board approved extending ShotSpotter for another year at a cost of just over $850,000.
The contract was set to expire on April 8.
According to Cleveland Public Safety, upon execution of the contract, it intends to utilize its General Fund as the funding source.
Cleveland Board of Control approves ShotSpotter for another year.
Council Member Richard Starr said the council feels slighted.
"Let me tell you something, let another department director or anyone think they could just try to use this loophole Ordinance 181.102 and watch you see me blow a head gasket,” Starr said.
The ordinance allows city directors to extend software contracts without going through the city council.
Now, council members want to either modify the ordinance or repeal it.
Drummond said the last ShotSpotter expansion happened the same way, and in this case, he wanted to make sure there wasn’t a coverage gap.
"I certainly understand the point they’re coming from, but this was an open process,” Drummond said.
"Now, should I have talked to the council chair? Sure, and I should have done that, and I said that there at the table. I should have done that, and going forward, I will," Drummond said.
"I don’t care how you word it or who steps up to take accountability, that is disrespectful to this body, and it’s not transparent with this body,” Starr said.
Last fall, Drummond said he wasn’t planning to continue with ShotSpotter and wanted to expand with Flock Safety, which also has gunshot detection. But that proposal was shelved.
Now, Drummond says they’re working on putting out a request for proposals to marry gunshot detection with the city's safety cameras.
