The Life of a Gunshot: Space, Sound and The Political Contours of Acoustic Gunshot Detection
This article examines the implications of acoustic gunshot detection systems for the role of sound and nonhuman agencies in Surveillance Studies and their relationship to broader modes of power. This is done by examining the role of a ShotSpotter Flex Incident Report in the case of DeOnté Rawlings, a 14-year old black child shot and killed by an off-duty police officer in Washington, D.C. Through this case, this article traces the diagrams of power that imbricate this surveillance system within structural racism. In focusing on the material particularities of acoustical surveillance systems, like ShotSpotter Flex, this work also reconsiders the role of the visual in surveillance systems and Surveillance Studies. This article argues that these new configurations of sound and nonhuman agency offer a particular value to understanding the contemporary entanglement of surveillant mediums and broader regimes of power.