The Sci-Fi movie Minority Report was set in a world in which police arrested people for crimes that were only predicted and not committed. But now real life is emulating fiction, according to campaign group Liberty. A report by Liberty called “Policing by Machine” reveals the widespread use of biased “predictive policing” that they claim threatens everyone’s rights and freedoms. The report collates 90 Freedom of Information requests sent to every force in the UK. These programmes also “learn” over time and become more autonomous when making predictions, without having to be programmed. There are two types of predictive policing, predictive mapping programmes, and individual risk assessment programmes. Predictive mapping programmes use police data about past arrests to identify “hot spots” of high risk and police are then directed to patrol the areas. But Liberty says these tend to be areas that already experience “over-policing”. Liberty says it simply presents a biased picture of how police have been responding to crime and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are disproportionately more likely to be arrested.
This leads the program to assume that the areas where they live or spend have more crime. Ms Couchman added: “When police strategy is influenced by historic bias, this will lead to more people from minority communities being subject to excessive surveillance where they are over-policed and over-criminalised. This leads to unfair and inefficient policing for us all. “There is a case for using data to address issues in policing and criminal justice, including bias, but rights issues surrounding privacy, free expression and discrimination are not being properly addressed in a way that make this tech part of a legitimate policing strategy.” Liberty says the biggest problem with the program is the lack of transparency. Police claim that a human will be overseeing the computer programs, but even officers deploying the technology will be unable to explain fully how it arrives at its conclusion. This means people can’t hold the programs to account or properly challenge the predictions they make.
The campaign group says the way to tackle the root causes of crime in the UK is to invest properly in housing, education and deprivation that leads to people becoming criminals.
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