{"id":868295,"date":"2026-08-06T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=868295"},"modified":"2026-08-06T14:21:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T12:21:38","slug":"cape-towns-r30-million-police-tech-under-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/868295\/cape-towns-r30-million-police-tech-under-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Town’s R30 million police tech under fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cape Town’s gunshot detection system has been taken offline, prompting questions about how useful the technology has been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ShotSpotter is an acoustic gunfire detection system developed by Soundthinking, an American security technology company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology works with sensors placed around an area, which can detect the sound of a gunshot and notify police of where the sound came from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Soundthinking’s website, the system can detect and notify authorities of a gunshot within 60 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can theoretically reduce response times for violent crimes and lead to better policing in monitored areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town initially began using the technology in specific areas in 2016, and in 2023, its use was extended to several areas, including Manenberg, Hanover Park, and Lavender Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, told BusinessTech that the overall cost of the technology has been approximately R29 million since 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deployment areas experience particularly high rates of violent crime, often associated with gangsterism in the Cape Flats area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first three months of 2026, the Western Cape had 983 reported murders, with many Cape Flats areas falling into the top 30 most affected districts in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scourge of violence in Cape Town is what initially led to the procurement of the ShotSpotter technology, intended to improve policing in high-risk areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between April and June 2025, Cape Town’s municipality reported that 54% of illegal firearms recovered by police had been found in areas using ShotSpotter technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its adoption, the technology has detected nearly 32,000 gunshots, with the number of detected incidents declining in three of the four areas where ShotSpotter was implemented between 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sharpest decline between these two years was in Manenberg, which dropped from 1,658 incidents in 2024 to 1,384 in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

31 firearms, 18 imitation or homemade firearms, and 467 rounds of ammunition were recovered in these areas within the two-month span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The data underpins the value of the gunshot detection technology, which enables more frequent, rapid, and precise responses,” the city said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By revealing patterns of gunfire, such as time of day or week, and geographic hotspots, it helps law enforcement allocate limited resources more efficiently and effectively.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city noted at the time that the technology cannot be used to prevent violent crime, but is rather intended to improve policing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“ShotSpotter cannot stop a person from pulling a trigger any more than a fire detector can stop a fire from igniting,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What it does provide is awareness. And without that awareness, the vast majority of gunfire goes unreported, leaving law enforcement blind.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to questions from BusinessTech, Smith echoed this belief, saying that the technology is not the only solution to gun violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is important to understand that the gunshot detection technology is but one tool in the fight against crime and gun violence,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is not meant to, and never was it intended to be a single solution to the gun violence affecting parts of our city.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system is under review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
UCT senior lecturer Grant Oosterwyk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Critics of ShotSpotter have said there are no independent analyses available to determine the technology’s true effectiveness in Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UCT senior Lecturer Grant Oosterwyk, Toronto Metropolitan University professor Ojelanki Ngwenyama, and University of Sydney senior lecturer Raffaele Ciriello recently questioned<\/a> the technology’s usefulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors said ShotSpotter needs to be independently audited to determine whether it is beneficial for Cape Town, and that it should be reviewed before and during its deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also noted that communities where the technology is implemented should have a larger voice in how it is used and how its effectiveness is measured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said investment in community safety is important, but should be prioritised towards creating improvements in the conditions which lead to violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Lasting improvements in public safety require investment in the social conditions that shape violence, including unemployment, trauma, weak social infrastructure, illicit firearms and strained trust between residents and police,” they said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ShotSpotter system is currently inactive<\/a> in Cape Town and is under review by the city as to whether it will continue to be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has come after the city’s contract for the technology ended, with discussions about whether it will be renewed ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith told BusinessTech that the city hopes to retain the use of ShotSpotter technology in the future, along with other technologies that can aid policing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the city’s current goal is to identify local service providers who can expand the technology’s range and usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also noted that, in determining the technology’s effectiveness, the city had reviewed the overall incidents detected by the technology and the decrease in incidents across three areas over the past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oosterwyk also spoke on CapeTalk<\/a> about the efficacy of the ShotSpotter system and said the public deserves to know if the technology was a worthwhile investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that “the jury is still out” as to whether ShotSpotter has reduced violence in Cape Town, with only approximately 5% of gun-related arrests leading to convictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith shared Oosterwyk’s belief that convictions are a key issue in reducing gun-related violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We still need more and improved policing resources; similarly, we still need communities to report crime and, most importantly, we still need a more effective criminal justice system to ensure that the cases that are registered are swiftly and thoroughly investigated and prosecutions secured,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A controversial policing programme has been placed under review in Cape Town, with experts questioning its effectiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":738893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2085365557205836053","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2168489983971401","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9878,1],"tags":[16866,2279,26004,26002,26003],"class_list":["post-868295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","category-trending","tag-cape-talk","tag-cape-town","tag-grant-oosterwyk","tag-shotspotter","tag-soundthinking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868295"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869231,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868295\/revisions\/869231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}