UPDATE: We delivered the petition to Mayor Theaker on February 24, 2022. He replied the following on Feb. 28: "The Chief has applied for a grant. We are waiting for the results before doing anything."

(Note: if you see a pop-up for donations, they go to iPetitions, and do not pertain to the below petition or Mansfield.)

Gang activity, gun violence, and shooting incidents are making our Mansfield, Ohio neighborhoods' safety deteriorate.

The Mansfield Police Department is understaffed about 12 officers and is having difficulty addressing crime spikes. Thus, it is time to employ technology to partially fill the gap as the staffing shortage worsens.

Mansfield is currently using the ShotSpotter technology in one square mile of the City to help quickly locate shooting incidents, victims, weapons, and perpetrators. This technology tremendously preserves limited resources and makes the neighborhoods safer.

However, many shootings are happening outside that one square mile, many of us can no longer live life like we used to, with violence at our doorsteps.

The City has received millions of dollars of ARPA money (some cities have used this for ShotSpotter) and the staffing shortage of 12 officers is leaving over $1.5 million on the table every year unspent.

Three square miles of ShotSpotter coverage would cost about $150,000 per year, a drop in the bucket when comparing the safety of Mansfield with the money on the table.

Therefore, we as citizens of Mansfield are petitioning Mayor Tim Theaker to expand the ShotSpotter system to make our neighborhoods safer.

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Richland Source has run several stories which have more information about ShotSpotter:

https://www.richlandsource.com/news/mansfield-poli...

https://www.richlandsource.com/news/shotspotter-te...