Councilor Ed Flynn has been vocal about the need to increase public safety amidst a series of high-profile violent crimes this summer. In a series of resolutions Wednesday, he called on the Council to support a “deadly weapon” collection program, the continued use of ShotSpotter technology, and to empower the Parks and Recreation Department’s Park Rangers to make arrests.

Flynn originally called only for knife drop-off, citing similar surrender programs in England that were associated with decreased knife crime in the immediate aftermath of their implementation. This follows two fatal stabbings at South Station on August 12, North Station on August 13, and in Dorchester on August 17.

After a roughly 15-minute recess, he and Culpepper amended it to extend it to “deadly weapons” more broadly. The updated version calls for the Boston Police Department to implement a surrender program for residents to safely discard legal or illegal knives, firearms, or machetes without being incriminated.

Similar programs are popular nationwide but have been shown to have limited impact on violent crime. A 2023 study by the RAND Corporation found little evidence that buy-back programs are an effective violence prevention tool. These programs remain attractive anyway because of general public support, low implementation costs, and local control, which allows public officials to point to surrendered weapons as a visible success in itself, whether or not they impact crime rates.

The resolutions on ShotSpotter and giving park rangers police powers were blocked by Councilors Henry Santana and Culpepper, respectively, sending the items to committee for potential hearings.

“I would have significant concerns with granting police powers without requiring the same appropriate academy training, use of force training, civil rights training, civil rights training, and other safeguards expected of officers exercising comparable authority,” Culpepper said.

Santanna added he agreed it is time to have an important conversation about the continued use of ShotSpotter, but the Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice should first have a hearing with experts.

ShotSpotter works by installing a network of microphones into a community that alerts law enforcement to gunlike sounds. Potential gunshots are automatically sent through ShotSpotter’s sensors, where an algorithm is used to classify the sound before a SoundThinking employee rejects or confirms the sound as a gunshot, forwarding the data to police in a minute or less, the company says.

Boston has spent more than $4 million on ShotSpotter technology since 2012, with critics arguing the technology is a surveillance issue for low-income communities. The Massachusetts ACLU reports that police found no evidence of gunfire at 70% of ShotSpotter alerts and records indicate more than 10% were flagging fireworks, not firearms. 

In May, the Cambridge City Council voted to end its use of ShotSpotter,but passed a 90-day reactivation following the fatal shooting of a city employee on July 4.

A hearing on continuing Boston’s use of ShotSpotter and potentially extending police training and authority to park rangers will be scheduled for the coming weeks.