Predictive policing

Predictive policing can take several forms, but the most common application draws on historical data to make decisions about deploying resources — like sending more police officers to a particular neighborhood on a Friday night because the data shows that’s where and when violent crime is most frequent. Oakland, California, last year became the first major city to implement an outright ban on predictive policing tech (along with biometric surveillance), following concerns of bias and racism embedded into its algorithms. Joe DeVries, the city’s chief privacy officer, told StateScoop he wanted “a flat-out ban” so the city wouldn’t need to reboot the debate for every new tech acquisition.