Image: Illustration by Harry Campbell
In Brief
- Predictive policing techniques combine traditional criminal data with unorthodox information such as upcoming paydays to generate predictions about where crime is likely to happen in the future.
- Memphis has been using a predictive policing system called Blue CRUSH to lower crime rates there. Since the system was instituted citywide in 2006, violent and major property crimes are down 26 percent.
- Predictive policing techniques raise questions about whether they might be used to deem individuals guilty before they commit a crime. In addition, criminologists do not know how well they truly work.
More In This Article
Patrolman joseph cunningham and I are hunting for criminals. not just any crooks but home burglars. And not just anywhere: although the city of Memphis covers 315 square miles, our search area has been narrowed to just a few square blocks of low brick apartment buildings in a crime-plagued part of town. The search date and time, too, have been tightly defined—Thursday, between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. The shift begins now. “I don’t anticipate any car chases tonight, but if one happens, be sure to put your seat belt on,” Cunningham says as we pull out from the station.
In squad car number 6540, Cunningham and I reach the area that his report has flagged. We are scouting for would-be burglars in general—“I’m looking for people who look like they don’t have a place to go,” Cunningham explains—and one suspect in particular: a man named Devin who may be behind a recent spate of break-ins in the area. Cunningham pulls up Devin’s picture on a dashboard-mounted touch screen.
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6 Comments
Add CommentDefine crime first before putting rob cop to work otherwise we have a machine at the side of every road and in every office, let alone every police station,church,school.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPerson of Interest on CBS is built on this concept, and it is very entertaining. Regardless your philosophical issues I urge everyone to watch this weekly show at least once.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI found Person of Interest not at all entertaining as it takes the Big Brother Concept to a place where there is zero scientific validity, the absolute abilty to predict that one single person will be at the the center of some nefarious event based on all human databases and snooping cameras. It pretty much violates Heisenberg's Uncertainty Princple. Would rather watch some more realistic police work on other far better shows.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat said: Absolute Determinism is just not reality. Reality is Relative and Probablistic. Thus with enough RELEVANT historical, sociological, behavioral, economic and geographical data, there is no reason why one cannot reasonably predict places and times where future crime is most likely if not quite probable. And the fact is, in real world application, these methods are shown to work quite well.
Sadly, this cannot fix our very broken racist & classist crminal justice system or make a bad or racist cop a good and/or fair one. So maybe its time we use such methods to determine guilt and innocen rather than the all too faulty jury paradigm. And also use such methods to determine who gets to be a lawyer, Judge or cop (or even leader, boss or and person or power and influence).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReminds me of a movie I saw.Science fiction becomes reality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAbsolutely impossible under natural law. There would have to be an element of provocateur. Creating a problem to spend public monies for a fictional cure.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Corporate way to achieve.