There is no clear evidence to suggest that the use of new predictive policing technology leads to safer communities, fairer treatment, greater transparency or increased trust in the police. This is the conclusion of a report by civil liberties and human rights organisation Liberty.
Although predictive policing is being heralded as a game-changer for fighting crime, Liberty cited a lack of transparency within predictive policing programs as a significant barrier to achieving rights compliance, robust regulation, proper oversight and greater transparency of their use.
In addition, Liberty stated that bias within the datasets used by police forces - created by gaps in the data or through discriminatory behaviour of police officers - would be amplified by the use of predictive policing programs.
The writers also warned of a chilling effect on the public from oversurveillance by law enforcement coupled with a culture of oversharing and big data. They wrote: “A culture of big data allows the state to monitor us even more closely and build up intrusive profiles from thousands of pieces of information. This chills our freedom of expression, making us feel we are being watched and forcing us to self-censor.”
The report makes five recommendations. They are:
The Gangs Matrix, based on the idea of “pre-criminality,” is a database of people that the police claim are at risk of being drawn into gangs or are at risk of gang violence. In July 2016, 78% of those included in the Gangs Matrix were black, 75% were victims of violence and 35% had never committed a crime.
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