NEW BEDFORD — After a number of legislators sent a letter to U.S. Inspector General Joseph Cuffari questioning the "accuracy and effectiveness" of the gunshot detection system known as ShotSpotter, a group of Massachusetts police chiefs — including New Bedford's — penned a letter of their own urging support for the technology.

In their letter to the inspector general, U.S. Senators Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) wrote: "We request that the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigate DHS’s spending of taxpayer dollars on ShotSpotter, including potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating based on race, color, and national origin."

The legislators noted that communities receive funding through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant program from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "to deploy the ShotSpotter system" from company SoundThinking.

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