Denver City Council Health and Safety Committee Meeting – September 2, 2026

The Denver City Council Health and Safety Committee met on Wednesday, September 2, 2026 (agenda start 10:30 AM; source timestamp 17:30:00+00:00) to consider one action item: Resolution 26-1217, amending the SoundThinking/ShotSpotter gunshot-detection contract. After staff presentations and extensive discussion, the committee voted 6-0 to approve the resolution for filing. No public comment was heard.

Action Item: ShotSpotter Contract Amendment (26-1217)

• The proposed amendment decreases the contract capacity with SoundThinking, Inc. f/k/a ShotSpotter, Inc. by $147,421, for a new total of $4,352,579, with no change to the contract term, continuing approximately 14 miles of gunshot detection in Denver.
• The current contract runs January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2026, under a formal RFP; the original five-year amount was about $4.5 million. Staff said the reduction better aligns deployment with the wind-down and covers 2.15 square miles of reduced service area.
• For the final contract year, staff cited about $325,000 from a federal Justice Assistance Grant and about $380,000 from the general fund. The service-area reduction was negotiated with the vendor in spring 2026.
• Department of Public Safety Executive Director Al Gardner, Police Chief Ron Thomas, and Department of Public Safety CFO Chanee Cummings presented. The agenda names Commander Jacob Herrera as a presenter; the transcript audio renders a commander's name differently.

Council Discussion

• Pro Tem Gonzales-Gutierrez, who asked to pull the item from the consent calendar, questioned the low yield and cost-benefit of ShotSpotter and asked whether the city would stop using the technology. Gardner said the city will not purchase a new system in 2027, but will use the year for a proof of concept, RFP design, community and council input, data gathering, and gap analysis. Chief Thomas said current array locations are based on data 5 to 10 years old; the system has high yield for shell casings and evidence, though not large numbers of arrests.
• Councilmember Flynn expressed strong concern about losing the capability, saying residents do not call 911 when they hear gunfire and that only 13% of ShotSpotter alerts had an associated 911 call, meaning almost 87% had no call. He said ShotSpotter helped find injured people and save lives, and that arrests are the wrong metric. Chief Thomas confirmed the national average of ShotSpotter alerts without a corresponding 911 call is 80 to 90 percent and that Denver is in that range. He explained DPD now dispatches to ShotSpotter-only alerts only when there are three or more shots, an identified persistently violent hotspot, or a corresponding 911 call, in part to preserve patrol capacity.
• Councilmember Lewis asked about data collection, early termination, and surveillance concerns. Gardner said the city did not choose early termination and that an RFP for a successor contract would have needed to begin around January or February 2026. Lewis compared the situation to the Axon transition and raised community concerns about over-policing, including an alleged false ShotSpotter alert at a Montbello 7-year-old's birthday party. Chief Thomas said the vendor's annual performance reviews show well over 90 percent positive hits, and only about 4 to 5 percent false reports or locations outside the 25-yard radius; forceful contacts with people based only on ShotSpotter alerts are rare, and he could provide data. Thomas added that arrays touch every police district, with police District 3 covered least, and that more council districts are not covered than are covered.
• Asked about the drawdown criteria and P.I. sites, staff initially said the drawdown was geographic rather than driven by alert data, then said areas with the lowest ShotSpotter alert counts over the previous 12 months were among the criteria; the transcript records the apparent contradiction.
• Councilmember Torres said she supported the reduction and reassessment, preferred funding officers responding to actual 911 calls, and pushed back on the idea that Denver residents generally want ShotSpotter to continue. She noted the arrays are placed by police district, not council district, and much of her district does not currently have the technology; she also stressed the need for residents to have confidence in the 911 system.
• Councilmember Sandoval said the covered Northwest Denver area mirrors the 2015 gentrification map and contains the only Denver Housing Authority area in Northwest Denver, driving a false perception that neighborhoods around Oslan Rec Center/Sunnyside are unsafe. She said ShotSpotter helped solve some serious crimes but is outdated, and she called for investment in proactive community policing and for a Denver surveillance ordinance, citing the Axon contract and Flock concerns. She said the time to act is now, before budget season.
• Chair Watson said he supports the action, asked for written drawdown criteria to be shared with all council members, and reminded the Department of Safety and the surveillance task force of an expected surveillance-ordinance outcome.
• On 911 education, Chief Thomas and Gardner said they continue community outreach and district meetings; Gardner also noted 911 call-taker capacity, call volume, and an aging CAD system as factors.

Key Outcomes

• Motion by Councilmember Flynn, seconded by Councilmember Torres, to approve Resolution 26-1217 for filing, carried 6-0. Ayes: Flynn, Gonzales-Gutierrez, Sandoval, Torres, Watson, and Romero Campbell. Nays: 0. Absent: Kashmann.
• The item advances to the full Denver City Council.
• No new gunfire-detection contract or RFP will be entered in 2027; DPD says it will use the next year for data collection, gap analysis, and RFP design.
• Staff agreed to provide Lewis with data on contacts/stops arising from ShotSpotter alerts and to provide all council members with written drawdown criteria/maps.
• Note: The minutes list eight present, including Alvidrez and Lewis, while the roll-call vote lists six ayes; the source does not explain the difference. The transcript also appears to render one dollar amount as $76,000 although the related grant/general-fund figures and the $147,421 decrease imply a final-year total around $706,000; the written amendment documents the $147,421 decrease to $4,352,579.