Some Florida Police Are Using Data to Predict Crime

October 27th, 2013

Via: FastCompany:

Well, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department isn’t using an oracle yet, but it is getting one step closer to Minority Report-style crime predicting. The department has become the latest agency to use big data analytics and data mining to prevent crime by staying one step ahead of criminals. According to IBM, the company has entered into a partnership with the Fort Lauderdale PD to integrate new data and analytics tools into everyday crime fighting. The new projects will use pattern recognition and anomaly detection tech on existing records like 911 calls, crime records, and building permit activity.

Posted in Florida, Police State, Rise of the Machines, Surveillance, Technology | Top Of Page

2 Responses to “Some Florida Police Are Using Data to Predict Crime”

  1. JWSmythe says:
    October 27, 2013 at 11:59 am

    Funny, I had mentioned to some people in the past that with enough data, I could write code to predict on past trends. When we were talking, it was something on the scale of the FBI databases, and it was just after their totally botched attempt. The “Virtual Case File” was a project that cost $170M, and was killed in 2005 after it failed to meet any useful goals in 5 years.

    Unfortunately, as I’ve heard from other parties who know more about their inner workings, it’s a mess of different systems some about 40 years old, *and* plenty of paper records that aren’t (or at least weren’t) stored electronically anywhere.

    Similar systems are used to monitor behavior and have real-world consequences. For example, the credit card companies have extensive anti-fraud systems that watch for unusual trends in shopping behavior.

    Most retail establishments watch trends in purchasing, which are made much clearer through store loyalty or discount cards. They watch the trends of what you buy and/or where you buy it. They will adjust their purchasing and stock patterns based on customer behavior.

    It’s not a huge jump from customer behavior analysis, to criminal analysis. They just get different data points. With enough information about people, they can make educated guesses on future behavior.

  2. steve holmes says:
    October 27, 2013 at 5:44 pm

    And yet the biggest criminals in the nation are hiding in plain site on Capitol Hill and law enforcement suspects nothing.

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