Santa Cruz Cops Experiment With 'Predictive Policing'

Not sure if in right place Mods please feel free to move.

idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com...

The police department in Santa Cruz, California, has begun an experiment that uses a mathematical algorithm to predict when and where certain crimes will be committed, and puts police on the scene before they happen.

So far police have arrested five people using this technique of "predictive policing" and the rates of certain categories of crimes in the city have dropped significantly, perhaps as a result. The program has correctly predicted 40 percent of the crimes it was designed to monitor.

reply to post by InshaAllah


I'm sure that predictive macing isn't far behind. I think there is something to be said for good old fashioned police work even though it may involve high tech tools. This isn't one of them but is not exactly "pre crime" either.

reply to post by InshaAllah


Can you re post the link please? That goes to a main page with loads of different stories and ~I couldn't see this one

reply to post by clintdelicious


idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com...

reply to post by InshaAllah


I wonder if this spawns from the US's "preemptive war" strategy. Hit them before they hit you, even if your not sure they will hit you.

This is going to create a bad meme within police departments using this technology. Police are automatically assume all the people in the area specified by the program are guilty, thus resulting in people being harassed for no reason other than the fact that a program said the area has a high crime rate.

Why dont they do actual police work to find out who is committing crimes.

You've GOT to be kidding me.
This is just giving them more power to do whatever the # they feel like.

This seems to me like a horrible idea. To start with it's going to make police assume everyone in the area is guilty. How long will it be until a man entering his own home at 2 a.m. after a night out gets tazed by a police officer assuming the man is forcing his entry because some algorithm told him that a crime was going to happen there. I just hope nobody innocent gets shot. I can't speak for the Santa Monica police, but a lot of police in my area were bullies in high school and joined the force as an excuse to continue bullying the community, and most of those types would love an excuse to shoot someone.

Another problem I predict is that the criminals will get smart and either through someone inside the police department, or through simple observation, find out that the police are wasting officers chasing ghost crimes, and will hit areas that crimes aren't regularly committed. I hope I'm wrong but I do see this happening.

While I'm glad technology of this sort is growing, it's applications are questionable.

Seems to me most crime is a symptom of a larger problem anyway... poverty and class differences. If only more energy was directed to treating the root cause.

Ah, look here this is where it gets sticky:

The program does not give police probable cause to arrest anyone, but it does give them a good reason to ask questions when they see someone in the right area at the right time looking suspicious.

If you end up in the right or wrong area at the right or wrong time and looking innocent you could be harassed anyway. Looking suspicious can be misperceived of how one views the world, thus a cop may see everyone as the enemy. This program creates a double standard and makes an illegal jurisprudence situation.

Americans are getting closer everyday to 1984.

I envision a terminator like future for us except for terminators, we are just going to be fighting TPTB.