Friday, September 9, 2016

Predictive Policing. (Predpol): Sounding the Alarm on Predictive Policing, by Amy Kroin; Free Press; (Publisher's note: "It's good to see that 'predictive policing' is finally getting close scrutiny by civil rights, privacy and technology groups - and that some informed skepticism is countering the lustrous aura - created by the industry behind the latest police toy. HL)..."After all, what could go wrong with a data-based approach to law enforcement? It turns out: plenty. That’s why Free Press joined a broad coalition of civil rights, privacy and technology groups in sounding the alarm about how predictive policing reinforces racial bias. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights mobilized the coalition, which counts the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, Color Of Change and the NAACP among the 17 signers. The statement released last Wednesday notes that “the data driving predictive enforcement activities — such as the location and timing of previously reported crimes, or patterns of community- and officer-initiated 911 calls — is profoundly limited and biased.” Indeed, a damning report from the tech consulting group Upturn, which surveyed the nation’s 50 largest police forces, confirms this view. Upturn found “little evidence” that predictive policing works — and “significant reason to fear that [it] may reinforce disproportionate and discriminatory policing practices.”


 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: ""It's good to see that 'predictive policing' is finally getting close scrutiny  by  civil rights, privacy and technology groups - and that some informed skepticism is countering the  lustrous  aura - created by the  massive industry behind the latest police toy. HL).

COMMENTARY: "Sounding the alarm on predictive policing," by Amy Kroin, published by Free Press, on September 8, 2016.

GIST: 'While the idea of using data to direct police resources sounds like an effort to remove human bias from the equation, that isn’t how it works in practice. In fact, predictive policing embeds police bias in an algorithm that then has the appearance of being neutral.' (Photo: Tony Webster/flickr) “Predictive policing” sounds good on paper. After all, what could go wrong with a data-based approach to law enforcement? It turns out: plenty. That’s why Free Press joined a broad coalition of civil rights, privacy and technology groups in sounding the alarm about how predictive policing reinforces racial bias. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights mobilized the coalition, which counts the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, Color Of Change and the NAACP among the 17 signers. The statement released last Wednesday notes that “the data driving predictive enforcement activities — such as the location and timing of previously reported crimes, or patterns of community- and officer-initiated 911 calls — is profoundly limited and biased.” Indeed, a damning report from the tech consulting group Upturn, which surveyed the nation’s 50 largest police forces, confirms this view. Upturn found “little evidence” that predictive policing works — and “significant reason to fear that [it] may reinforce disproportionate and discriminatory policing practices.” Nearly all of the predictive-policing systems in use in the United States come from private vendors. The systems draw on existing crime data to forecast where future crimes might occur. The idea is that this knowledge will help police departments determine where to focus their law-enforcement activities. While the idea of using data to direct police resources sounds like an effort to remove human bias from the equation, that isn’t how it works in practice. In fact, predictive policing embeds police bias in an algorithm that then has the appearance of being neutral. The Upturn report explains that “criminologists have long emphasized that crime reports, and other statistics gathered by the police, are not an accurate record of all the crime that occurs in a community; instead, they are partly a record of law enforcement’s responses to what happens in a community” [emphasis added]. This is a critical point: The police response to low-income communities — in particular communities of color — is completely different from the response to wealthy white communities.........  As my colleague Sandra Fulton observed in a recent post on surveillance of communities of color, police often “race to adopt new technologies without considering the potential harms or consulting with the communities they serve.” Predictive policing is yet another example of this dangerous trend. And people’s lives are on the line."

The entire commentary can be found at:

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/09/08/sounding-alarm-predictive-policing

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmithInformation on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:  http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html  Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.    
Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.