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Title: Department of Pre-Crime: Santa Cruz police test software that predicts where and when criminals will strike
Source:
Daily Mail
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet ... predicts-criminals-strike.html
Published: Oct 7, 2011
Author: Rob Waugh
Post Date: 2011-10-07 00:16:53 by A K A Stone
Keywords: None
Views: 140
In the film Minority Report, a police department 'predicted' crimes - but they had the advantage of floatariums full of psychics who could see into the future.
The Santa Cruz police's 'predictive' software uses the rather more prosaic method of software running on an ordinary PC - software that takes notice of an unusual phenomenon.
In the same way that an earthquake causes 'aftershocks', crimes such as burglaries seem to trigger 'aftercrimes'. Mathematicians turned to earthquake-predicting equations to catch burglars in the act
Would be evil-doers can rest a little easier in their shoes, though - the software, designed by mathematician George Mohler at Santa Clara University, can't predict WHO will commit a crime.
Instead, it focuses on areas where crimes happen - looking for the predictable pattern of 'aftercrime' burglaries happening within 600 feet of the place a first crime.
On tests on crime records in LA, the program could predict where 25 per cent of burglaries would occur - a significant advantage for patrolling police, according to a report in New Scientist this week.
Now Santa Cruz police are to test the software in the field later this year - patrolling locations where the program 'predicts' crimes will happen.
The area was chosen because Santa Cruz, with a highly mobile population of tourists and students, is a tricky place to police, 'It's very difficult to game plan, ' says Deputy Chief of Police Steve Clark.
Clark thinks the software could be useful simply because it changes the way police patrol their area - and prevents experienced officers falling into a routine.
Clark says that police often patrol based on 'intuition' - and that 'Something like this either confirms that intuition, or breaks us out of it.'
The fact that it's a simple algorithm means that if it yields results, the program could be rapidly rolled out to other cities and police forces.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2045678/Department-Pre-Crime-Santa-Cruz-police-test-software-predicts-criminals-strike.html#ixzz1a4APR7Ja
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