A police oversight group has formally recommended Portland adopt a technology known as "ShotSpotter" to help tackle gun violence, but the technology has been met with some skepticism.

ShotSpotter uses artificial intelligence with data collected from hidden microphones to determine the location of gunshots and inform the police department.

Dan Hon, a Portland-based strategy consultant in government and civic technology, said the technology still has to make some leaps to determine if the sound it hears is a gunshot.

"The thing about technology that we really need to understand is that it's not magical, it's not necessarily more reliable," Hon asserted. "It's not necessarily going to 100%, always classify sound in exactly the right way."

A study last year from Chicago, where ShotSpotter has been implemented, found it led to more than 40,000 dead-end police deployments in less than two years.

A ShotSpotter spokesperson says the report draws erroneous conclusions from its interpretation of police reports.

The Focus Intervention Taskforce Community Oversight Group submitted its recommendation to Mayor Ted Wheeler and the city council on Monday. Hon argued if the technology is adopted, open data is key to ensure accountability.

Je Amaechi, digital organizer in Portland for Freedom to Thrive, pointed out the technology is still experimental, and has even faced a challenge to its constitutionality as sole evidence in an Ohio case.

One of the biggest criticisms is it could lead to more policing in communities of color. Amaechi thinks the resources to bring ShotSpotter to Portland should be used instead to improve lives in communities of color.

"They instead use it to manipulate people into manufacturing consent for this surveillance system that puts more police into their neighborhoods," Amaechi contended. "And we've seen already that more police in neighborhoods does not make us safer. It makes us, actually, more at risk of police violence."

A ShotSpotter spokesperson said communities affected by gun violence "deserve a rapid police response, which gunshot detection enables regardless of race or geographic location." At a community meeting last week, ShotSpotter stressed the technology would only be used to detect gunshots.

Chris Bushick, executive director of PDX Privacy, believes the microphones could be used for other purposes.

"I really want to believe them, but I've been disappointed many times by tech companies that have broken their promises," Bushick stressed. "And there have been at least two criminal trials where prosecutors have tried to introduce into evidence voice recordings that were obtained from gunshot detection systems."

ShotSpotter says sensors are only designed to record loud sounds and says the risk of recording voices is extremely limited.

More than 120 cities are contracted with ShotSpotter, according to the company's website.

Some Indigenous groups in Michigan want to draw parallels to their own historic struggles and those of Palestinians in Gaza and they are doing it through powerful artwork depicting dance.

One elaborate drawing shows a Native American and Palestinian woman dancing together.

The nonprofit Citizen's Resistance at Fermi Two said the group advocates for environmental causes and safety for all people, including tribal nations.

Jesse Deer in Water, the group's community organizer, said it was important to stand up for what they believe and, in his words, to "stop all forms of oppression."

"And I can identify with it, because it's happened to my people," Deer in Water explained. "The stuff that's happening currently on the West Bank is like what happened to my people in Georgia. We had no rights, and they just came in and, like, the settlers did whatever they want."

He added the group is concerned taxpayer dollars are being used for causes contributing to the struggles of the people of Gaza and those who live around the Fermi Two nuclear plant. Legislation in Congress to send more money to Israel is expected to pass in the U.S. Senate today.

Members of True Earth, a sister organization to Citizen's Resistance at Fermi Two helped select the artwork for the solidarity campaign, including the group's social media person, Nora Berry and graphic designer Maro Beauchamps.

Beauchamps called the pictures "a perfect depiction of beauty while in struggle," and said it is important to understand how the art tells a larger story.

"Two women that are dancing together, seeing the mirror in each other of the struggle, of the shared experiences and the shared traumas," Beauchamps outlined. "We often don't even see the women that are so critical and crucial to movements of resistance."

Shunahsii Rose, also with True Earth, sees another link between the nuclear controversy and the Middle East conflict.

"Both of them are a misuse of our dollars, huge misuse of our dollars," Rose contended. "Taking the money of hard-earned people and pouring it in terrible directions that only bring harm."

A recent report details how great wealth that later made philanthropy possible around the country but most evidently in the District of Columbia, southern Maryland and northern Virginia -- commonly known as the DMV -- came at the expense of the social stability and economic success of Black residents.

Dwayne Proctor, board chair of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, said older foundations likely had the best opportunity to participate in practices that were unfair and unjust to people because of the times they were in, in the social context in which they began.

"I'm hopeful that many folks will look toward their local foundations and want to know more about how they began and if they've done harm and participated in the oppression of others, like it appears to have been the case in the DMV with the foundations that are studied," Proctor said.

Proctor stressed that if readers can connect the overlaps between the social determinants of health and the necessary healing of Black families today, real and transformative conversations about repair can begin.

Katherine Ponce, research manager for special projects for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, said the report tried to model what the state of California has done for its reparations task force, outlining many categories of how Black people have faced disparities in the region and how that starts.

"We talked about anti-Black media and rhetoric, housing discrimination and segregation, unemployment and hidden opportunity, and then health care, both mental and physical. We have eight case studies of foundations in the region, how their money was createdm" Ponce explained.

Ponce added the report should leave people not just knowing that big systems of oppression impact and harm people of color, but should cause people to start taking measurable actions and fix the disparities and make ties from the eight stories to their reality.

A new report finds some Missouri laws and prospective laws are perceived as discriminatory regardless of their actual intent - and it outlines some big, negative economic implications for the state.

When events are scheduled in places with policies that are considered non-inclusive or discriminatory, that place is often assumed to support these initiatives.

Dr. M. Ray Perryman, founder and CEO of The Perryman Group, who conducted the independent analysis, said some potential visitors will choose to go elsewhere rather than support places they think are less open to diversity and equity. He said this avoidance risks millions for the Missouri economy.

"Travel and tourism losses in Missouri and Kansas could total hundreds of millions of dollars per year," he said, "with an associated loss in revenue to the states and local governments."

Measures now under consideration include Senate Bill 1314, which would limit state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and SB 980, which would prohibit state agencies from doing business with companies unless they'd agree not to be part of economic boycotts. With these types of policies, the Perryman research says, the state would risk losing nearly $2.6 billion in annual income and almost 24,000 jobs by 2030.

Perryman also pointed out that controversial public policies are discouraging to skilled workers seeking long-term employment and young workers as they consider where to begin their careers. He said it also plays a role for organizations in Missouri that are concerned about retaining employees.

"At a time when the U.S. economy is facing major challenges and uncertainty, the competition for quality corporate locations and expansions, as well as skilled workers, is particularly intense," he said, "and anti-DEI measures can be particularly damaging for future prosperity."

The report warns of similar negative financial consequences for the state of Kansas.


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