Court backs arrest by officers responding to ShotSpotter

By HARM VENHUIZEN
Associated Press/Report for America

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a man who was arrested by officers responding to a report from gunshot location technology. The high court on Thursday ruled that the officers had reasonable suspicion to stop the man beyond just the gunshot technology. Justices ruled unanimously against Avan Rondell Nimmer, who was taken into custody in 2019 after officers observed him walking about 100 feet from the site of a ShotSpotter alert. Gunshot location technology like ShotSpotter has been attacked by some as problematic and potentially misleading. The company says its technology is accurate. The Wisconsin justices said that the technology “generates reliable reports of gunfire in near real-time.”