The Cambridge City Council in Massachusetts voted Monday to end the city’s use of ShotSpotter, a police surveillance tool that had been deployed for more than a decade to help detect possible gunfire, as reported by The Post Millennial.

The council approved the order after public comment and nearly an hour of deliberation. The measure removes the acoustic detection system, which uses sensors to alert law enforcement when loud sounds consistent with gunfire are detected.

The technology was first deployed by the Cambridge Police Department in 2014. Under the order approved by the council, the city manager and police department have 90 days to turn off the system and physically remove the sensors.

The Police Chief of Cambridge with decades in service had to plead to a 23 year old councilwoman to not get rid of Shot spotter as it was saving lives. The Police chief was unsuccessful. State of the nation. https://t.co/FAMqIYe4yw

— Lee Kuan Yimby 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇸🇬 (@billiceberg) May 20, 2026

The vote came after residents and council members raised concerns about surveillance, privacy, and the possibility of over-policing in minority communities. Some also questioned whether the technology could affect immigrant communities.

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The measure had originally appeared on the council’s agenda the previous week, but action was delayed after Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem cited heightened emotion following a recent shooting on Memorial Drive that left two victims and a gunman hospitalized.

During Monday’s meeting, concerns were raised that even though the system only activates alerts above a certain decibel level, the sensors operate continuously and could potentially record conversations, according to Cambridge Day.

Councillor Ayah Al-Zubi, chairman of the public safety committee, said the city should not define public safety only through surveillance or policing.

“We shouldn’t frame safety only through surveillance or policing. We have to be expansive,” Al-Zubi said.

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The vote came despite requests from city manager Yi-An Huang and acting police commissioner Pauline Wells to keep ShotSpotter in place. Huang said the system was not a “perfect tool” but argued that it helped police respond more quickly.

“When you look at the data a slightly different way, this is actually allowing [police] to respond more quickly, and that’s what we’ve been hearing from our police leadership,” Huang said.

Residents who spoke during public comment raised concerns about the system’s effect on privacy. Others said they were worried the program would contribute to increased police presence in non-white communities.

Voice recordings played during the meeting included comments from Cambridge residents who said they were afraid to speak publicly because they lived in households that included illegal immigrants.

Additional concerns were raised that the microphones could be “listening in on immigrant communities.”

The decision ends Cambridge’s use of a gun violence detection system that had been part of the city’s policing strategy for more than 10 years.

Supporters of removing the system framed the vote as a privacy and community trust issue, while city officials who wanted it retained argued it helped police respond to possible shootings.

The order gives officials a 90-day timeline to shut down and remove the sensors from the city.

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