Software that predicts the crime scene is a reality

Frame from the c / f "Minority Report"



US researchers have developed a new type of software that is said to help law enforcement agencies reduce crime by using a predictive algorithm. The software will calculate where a crime may occur and will be able to send more law enforcement officers to these areas. It is called “Predictive Policing” and is already in use by dozens of police departments, including in Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta.



Some skeptics doubt that prognostic software actually works as advertised. In the end, most crimes fit only in the semi-regular model, while serious but low-frequency crimes, such as terrorist acts, do not have a specific scheme, which makes them much more difficult to predict, reports fusion .



In addition, blacks in the United States have already been targets of police persecution, and some fear that with the help of such software, law enforcement will spend more time searching for criminals in disadvantaged areas inhabited by “minorities” less than 50%).

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Although large companies such as IBM are also developing similar software for police officers, one of the most widely distributed products, PredPol, was developed by the small Santa Cruz company from California.



PredPol works quite simply. On the basis of data on crimes that have already occurred, it makes predictions where the law will be violated next time. They are displayed (forecasts) on Google map as red squares 500 by 500 feet (152.4 by 152.4 meters, hello to the English system of measures! ).





Photographs of Google maps with marked “potentially dangerous” areas



The idea is that if employees focus their attention on the area where the crime is most likely to occur, it will help reduce the overall crime rate in the area.



Heads of police departments who have already experienced PredPol and similar systems claim that they are working. For example, the Norcross Police Department (Georgia) states that after the start of using software, the percentage of burglaries and robberies decreased by 15-30%.