Cleveland City Council wants to examine what some members called a "loophole" that allowed Mayor Justin Bibb's administration to quietly approve controversial gunshot detection technology without legislative approval.
Public Safety Director Wayne Drummond for failing to mention plans to bring an $853,000 ShotSpotter contract renewal before the Board of Control earlier this month. But he maintained the process was transparent and said the meeting was live streamed to the public, adhering to open meeting laws.
Drummond pointed to that allows the Board of Control, which is made up of members of Mayor Justin Bibb's cabinet, to approve renewals with city contracted software vendors.
Council Member Richard Starr called the move a "loophole." Council typically approves spending over $50,000.
"From my perspective, the administration and you, too, Director Chief [Drummond], were not being straight shooters when it came to this contract because people knew how unsettled many Cleveland City Council members are," Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones said. She said the move indicated a "lack of trust" between the administration and council.
Now, council wants to amend the law that allowed the Board of Control to pass the contract renewal. Safety Committee Chair Mike Polensek said he's in talks with Council President Blaine Griffin to soon require council approval on spending over $50,000. An amendment has not been formally presented yet.
"Everything you've asked for, we've given you," Polensek told Drummond. "We've been very supportive, but we want to make sure, again, the dollars that we are allocating are going to be properly spent and have the impact that we want them to have."
Council typically conducts hours-long hearings on contracts, sometimes over multiple weeks. The Board of Control approved the one-year extension with Shotspotter's vendor, SoundThinking, at a .
Council had been contemplating a contract with another gunshot detection company, Flock Safety, this winter. They did not pass the legislation and asked for a formal request for proposals process to review multiple software options.
Drummond said the ShotSpotter extension gives the city time to go through that process, with ample opportunities for council input once a vendor is selected.
Cleveland has used ShotSpotter since 2020. It currently covers 13 square miles, mostly concentrated on the East Side. A last year found the technology helped police respond more quickly to gunfire but wasn't able to reduce crime.
Other cities, such as , use ShotSpotter, but critics have blasted the tech for false positives and potential privacy violations. in 2024.
