"Predictive policing systems combine sensor networks, big data and algorithms with the aim to predict and even prevent crime. But this type of pervasive surveillance raises concerns about privacy and profiling. The ambition of the Dutch National Police (KLPD) is to realize a nation-wide sensor network that collects data on a vast scale both in the physical world and online. For its predictive policing ambition the KLPD received a nomination for the annual Big Brother Awards. The aim of the sensor network is to greatly expand the police’s observation capabilities. With the aid of algorithms to process the data, the network would be used for four types of observation: 1: identifying people and objects; 3: recognizing unusual behavior, and 4; Intercepting communications; Those are all procedures central to police work. The first three are probably practiced by police officers every day. However, today’s limited resources force the police to focus on a small group of people: people suspected of having committed a crime. A nation-wide sensor network would remove that limitation and enable the police to observe everybody. Always. Although such a network will have quite an impact on society, the KLPD did not see fit to share its ambition with the public. The vision described above was formulated in an internal document in 2011 [Dutch] but was not publicly known until it was leaked earlier this year.........But the authors of the KLPD vision document do seem to have taken their cue from Minority Report. The authors state that the sensor network could be used to “predict occurrences in the near future” which would enable cops to “take action proactively”. De Koning ended with the closing words that predictive policing is dependent on profiling. He recalled the case of Robert McDaniel from Chicago who was visited by a police commander to tell him he was being watched and better not commit any crimes. It turned out he was considered a risk and had been placed on a ‘heat list’, despite the fact he had committed no crime. Being a black man in a bad neighborhood an algorithm had spewed out his name. “It is really scary that someone who has done nothing wrong is labeled like that”, said De Koning. “You run the risk such harassment will push him over the edge because the label prevents him from getting a job.”"

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