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Predictive policing practices labeled as 'flawed' by civil rights coalition
Source: The Guardian
Predictive policing practices labeled as 'flawed' by civil rights coalition
Computer-based forecasting tools that use data to predict
where future crimes are likely to happen have been on the rise
over the past decade
Jamiles Lartey
Wednesday 31 August 2016 19.55 BST
A broad coalition of civil rights and civil liberty organizations came out in opposition to “predictive policing” technologies on Wednesday, calling the strategy “profoundly flawed”.
“The data driving predictive enforcement activities – such as the location and timing of previously reported crimes, or patterns of community- and officer-initiated 911 calls – is profoundly limited and biased,” the report summarized. The report also included input from the American Civil Liberties Union, Color of Change and the Brennan Center for Justice.
Predictive policing has been increasingly used by departments throughout the US with roughly 20 of the largest 50 departments already using it to some degree, and another 11 considering its implementation. Predictive policing describes a set of computer-based forecasting tools that use crime data to inform where future incidents are likely to happen, and where officers should attempt to proactively patrol.
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The major concern raised by the coalition is the low reliability of crime data. “It is well known that crime data is notoriously suspect, incomplete, easily manipulated and plagued by racial bias,” said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the ACLU. “Data on where crime occurs is dependent in part on when and where crime is reported and in part on where the police deploy to find crime.”
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Computer-based forecasting tools that use data to predict
where future crimes are likely to happen have been on the rise
over the past decade
Jamiles Lartey
Wednesday 31 August 2016 19.55 BST
A broad coalition of civil rights and civil liberty organizations came out in opposition to “predictive policing” technologies on Wednesday, calling the strategy “profoundly flawed”.
“The data driving predictive enforcement activities – such as the location and timing of previously reported crimes, or patterns of community- and officer-initiated 911 calls – is profoundly limited and biased,” the report summarized. The report also included input from the American Civil Liberties Union, Color of Change and the Brennan Center for Justice.
Predictive policing has been increasingly used by departments throughout the US with roughly 20 of the largest 50 departments already using it to some degree, and another 11 considering its implementation. Predictive policing describes a set of computer-based forecasting tools that use crime data to inform where future incidents are likely to happen, and where officers should attempt to proactively patrol.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
The major concern raised by the coalition is the low reliability of crime data. “It is well known that crime data is notoriously suspect, incomplete, easily manipulated and plagued by racial bias,” said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the ACLU. “Data on where crime occurs is dependent in part on when and where crime is reported and in part on where the police deploy to find crime.”
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/31/predictive-policing-civil-rights-coalition-aclu