Life Imitates Tom Cruise
October 20, 2013
Uh-oh! We might be punished for actions we have yet to commit using predictive analytics. According to TechEye.net, a plot out of a Hollywood movie is about to become reality: “Met Police Talks Up ‘Minority Report’ Predictive Software.” If you are not familiar with the Tom Cruise film, it is about a cop in the not too distant future where they use a combination of technology and psychics to stop crimes before they happen. An Inspector Knacker of the Metropolitan Police, from the article, claims that by using a crime statistics and criminal behaviors algorithm, illegal activities will be deterred. The idea that high-targeted areas will come to the attention of police, who will then station more officers in predicted area.
A pilot program was launched in Hackney, Wandsworth, Newham and Lewisham and there was a large reduction in crime. The Met Commissioner Bernard Howgan-Howe wants to use the technology on antisocial behavior and vehicle crime across London.
There is a strange pattern to criminals’ habits:
“Professor Shane Johnson, of University College London department for crime science, who is helping police develop the system, found that burglars’ tactics closely match the behavior of wild animals searching for food. Burglars return to sites they have found productive but move on when they realize supplies are exhausted, he said.”
It sounds more like tracking animal patterns in nature than a Hollywood blockbuster. NOVA may have their next award-winning documentary, however.
Whitney Grace, October 20, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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