Earlier this year, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tried to break the city's contract with ShotSpotter, a system that lets authorities know where a shooting occurred. People on the left convinced Johnson that the system was somehow racist.
Now the Chicago City Council has defied the mayor, and even members of his own party say they want the system back in place.
Johnson was asked about this by the media and seemed baffled.
WTTW News reports:
The City Council votes 34-14 to approve the effort to overturn Mayor Brandon Johnson's decision to scrap ShotSpotter
The Chicago City Council voted 34-14 on Wednesday to attempt to overturn Mayor Brandon Johnson's decision to scrap the city's use of ShotSpotter, following intense debate over the gunshot detection system.
The vote represented a major rebuke of Johnson and the central promise of his campaign for mayor, which pledged to tackle the root causes of crime and violence rather than focus on law enforcement.
The order requires a City Council vote before removing ShotSpotter from a Chicago neighborhood and requires the Johnson administration to provide councilors with a host of data generated by the ShotSpotter system before the city's contract with SoundThinking on Nov. 22 expires.
Johnson could veto the order, which he says is illegal. However, two-thirds of the City Council voted in favor of it, raising the possibility that the City Council could override a mayoral veto, which has never happened in Chicago history.
The decision approved by the City Council said Johnson “usurped the will of the City Council and their ability to represent constituents” by terminating the city's contract with SoundThinking, which operates the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system.
Watch this exchange between Johnson and the press:
Mayor Brandon Johnson terminated Chicago's contract with ShotSpotter after activists complained that the gunshot detection technology is racist.
The City Council just voted to RESET, including many loyal Democrats.
Johnson is not happy about it: pic.twitter.com/Fazp6aZqxH
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 23, 2024
Johnson should read the room. People in Chicago want to feel safe.
