The idea of preventive police departure - as in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report - is gaining increasing attention from law enforcement in the United States, who have decided that computer programs that predict crime will make life easier for police, especially during massive budget cuts.
Three psychics predicted crimes in the film "Minority Report"
So, the Los Angeles police have begun testing in certain areas of the city, a technology that, according to the assurances of the developers, guesses where a robbery or car theft will take place is twice as good as a human.
Based on statistical data (previously committed crimes, time, place), the software developed by PredPol shows “hot spots” on a map in patrolling devices' mobile devices, where an offense is more likely to occur. The police software development team includes mathematicians, anthropologists and criminologists.
The program generates forecasts of the most likely places and times of committing crimes in the future based on the analysis and comparison of offenses over the past eight years. Forecasts are adjusted daily, taking into account the commission of new crimes and updated data entered into the program.
The new software has already proven its viability: in the criminal area of Foothill, there was a 25 percent decrease in robberies compared to neighboring areas. In total, PredPol technology has been extended to six Los Angeles boroughs with a population of about 1.1 million.
Previously, algorithms that predict crime were tested in Santa Cruz, California. If the experiment is successful, the "predictor" will appear in other US cities.