Thursday, July 29, 2010

British Police Trials Crime Predicting Software



Computer program reveals where criminals are most likely to hit
By Lucian Constantin
[softpedia.com] British police forces are trialing computer software which is able to pinpoint potential criminal hot spots from data fed to it. The system leverages statistical history and evaluates patterns to predict the places where crime is most likely to occur. Known as CRUSH (Criminal Reduction Utilising Statistical History), the program was developed by IBM with help from the University of Memphis Criminology and Research department.
The system has real time access to a wide variety of data including, but not limited to crime reports, police intelligence, offender profiles or weather forecasts, which it combines with past crime patterns to accurately pinpoint crime hotspots. The system was used successfully by the Memphis Police Department for a long time, where it allowed resources to be allocated efficiently to decrease law enforcement response times.
Such proactive actions are said to be responsible for a crime reduction rate of 31% in the area. "This is more of a proactive tool than reacting after crimes have occurred. This pretty much puts officers in the area at the time that the crimes are being committed," John Williams of the Memphis Crime Analysis Unit, commented for The Guardian, which also reports that two British police forces have secretly begun trialing the software. The methodology behind such programs is known as “predictive analytics” and encompasses various data mining and statistical analysis techniques. The technology has long been used in certain industries, particularly financial services, and in various fields of research. However, applications in the justice system, like for determining which prisoners are most likely to become repeat offenders has been strongly criticized by human rights activists. IBM explains that the CRUSH system does what police officers were already doing, but on a whole new level and with much more speed. Current development efforts aim to increase the number of sources the program can process, with CCTV camera feeds and Facebook posts being strong candidates.

No comments:

Solidarity Poster for Polykarpos Georgiadis and Vaggelis Chrisohoidis (greece)



POSTER SAYS:
did anyone speak of a
KIDNAPPING?
“…A handful of capitalists
have organized a criminal gang
and have kidnapped the proletarians,
demanding for ransom
their labor force,
merchandising their human activity,
their time (which is turned into money),
their own being itself…”
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
to vaggelis Chrisohoidis and Polykarpos Georgiadis
who the persecuting authorities, exactly because they denied to betray values and people,
accuse them as participators in the kidnapping of industrialist Milonas
anarchists from Serres from north-greece


Anarchists solidarity protest outside Korydallos prison, the main prison in Athens, at the time of the change of the year. This protest happens every New Year's Eve for the past six years. This year more than 400 people took part in the protest that interacted with the prisoners inside through shouting mutual slogans and fireworks. The main slogan was "The passion for freedom is stronger that your prisons".
NEW YEAR OUTSIDE IN KORRIDALOS PRISON 2011
Watch live streaming video from agitprop at livestream.com
FIRE TO ALL PRISONS

A society that punishes/the condition of incarceration/the prison of the mind/the prison as punishment/the rage of the damned will sound on the ruins of prisons/those denying obedience and misery of our era even within its hellholes/will dance together on the ruins of every last prison/with the flame of rebellion avenging whatever creates prisons.

To the prisoners struggle already counting one dead and thousands in hunger strike across greece, we stand in solidarity and anger until the destruction of every last prison.


ARSON AND WILDFIRE FOR EVERY PRISON

SOLIDARITY TO ALL PRISONERS IN GREECE


Keny Arkana - La Rage English Subtitles

1976 - 2000 Greek Anarchists Fight for Freedom

(December Riots in Greece)