Police Are Trying to Predict the Future
‘Predictive policing’ uses historic data to forecast where crime will occur, but critics question the accuracy
How can policing be improved? Politicians, police stations, activist groups, and the public all have their own ideas on how to meet that challenge. Yet while social media and smartphones have increased the awareness of police brutality, an entirely different technology has been steadily and covertly expanding across public life.
PredPol is just one of a number of predictive policing companies based on artificial intelligence. PredPol’s software analyzes crime data to determine which parts of a city are more likely to see criminal behavior and helping police departments “predict” crime before it happens.
Based on PredPol’s algorithmic recommendations, police patrol certain areas with more vigilance. The company claims that one in 33 Americans are protected by its data, implying that it is used by forces across the U.S.; OneZero asked PredPol to clarify this claim and to comment on this article, but received no response. PredPol uses confidential contracts, making it difficult to find out exactly which cities use the technology, but documents seen by Vice earlier this year show that the software has been used for years by police departments in…
