SOUTH BEND, Ind. — As crime continues to go unchecked in the city of South Bend, newly uncovered data shows just how bad parts of the city have become. In the first 4 months of 2021, there were a total of 630 reported shooting incidents from the city’s ShotSpotter technology. That’s an average of about 5 every day. The technology only covers portions of the city as well, so the numbers are undoubtedly higher.
While the city and law enforcement only report a “shooting” as someone being hit with a bullet, REAL News Michiana is using the traditional definition of shooting as the act of firing a gun, regardless of if someone was actually struck. Pressuring journalists to change the definition of shooting to only include people injured by gunfire has been a trick used by law enforcement leadership and politicians to make the numbers not look as bad as they truly are and has become common practice.
The data provided to RNM shows a total of 409 reports of multiple gunshots, 160 reports of single gunshots and 61 probable gunfire reports. The data is from January 1, 2021, through April 30th, 2021. You can see the entire dataset below, along with a letter to the city attorney explaining not all data is publicly available. ShotSpotter is a private company that provides gunshot detection technology to cities and law enforcement departments across the country.
Great reporting on what really goes on in a community!