Software tested in Los Angeles was twice as good as human analysts at predicting where burglaries and car break-ins might happen, according to a company deploying the technology.
When police in an L.A. precinct called Foothill division followed the computer’s advice—and focused their patrols within the areas identified—those areas experienced a 25 percent drop in reported burglaries, an anomaly compared to neighboring areas.
On patrol: A computer-generated “heat map,” left, shows predicted crime activity. This is translated into patrol instructions in the form of the red boxes on the map, right. PredPo
Leap Motion will be bringing to life the precise gesture control of the movie the Minority Report and now Predictive Policing is the real life version of Pre-crime precognition. Predictive policing provides real time targeted crime prediction.
Predictive policing is not
* mapping of past crimes.
* profiling of individuals.
* a replacement for veterans’ intuition and experience.
* new hardware or additional hiring.
Predictive policing is
* a tool to increase your odds of stopping crime.
* a technology for any jurisdiction of any size.
* a way to bring newer police up to speed more quickly.
* information available immediately where and when it is needed.
* The technology predicts where crimes are likely to occur in place-based prediction boxes as small as 500 feet by 500 feet. Officers are briefed at roll call on the highest-probability “hot spots” for that day and devote extra attention to those areas—as much as fifteen minutes every two hours.
* In contrast to technology that analyzes and maps past crime for some hints at the future—a kind of “rear view mirror” policing—PredPol tells law enforcement what is coming
The technology was previously tested in Santa Cruz, California. It has now been expanded to six Los Angeles areas inhabited by 1.1 million people, and is being expanded to other cities.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.