Florida Sheriff's Pre-Crime Software Says D-Students And Victims Of Domestic Violence Are Potential Criminals
from the nothing-a-good-handcuffing-can't-fix dept
Predictive policing is coming for your children. That's what's happening in Florida, where the Pasco County Sheriff's Office has taken an inappropriate interest in minors. It all begins with some questionable access to sensitive records and ends with the Sheriff deciding some students are destined for a life of crime. (h/t WarOnPrivacy)
This seems like the sort of thing better handled by school counselors, social workers, and others not inclined to view students as criminals. But it's in the hands of the Sheriff's office, along with sensitive information about students not normally considered to be under law enforcement's purview.
The Pasco County Sheriff claims this is all about helping kids -- not predetermining their destiny.
In a series of written statements, the Sheriff’s Office said the list is used only to help the deputies assigned to middle and high schools offer “mentorship” and “resources” to students.
Asked for specifics, it pointed to one program where school resource officers take children fishing and another where they give clothes to kids in need.
The documents obtained by TampaBay.com say something else.
The Office's manual [PDF], which provides guidance for the Sheriff's [what fresh dystopian hell is] "juvenile intelligence analysts," places far more emphasis on determining who should be placed on lifelong surveillance due to their alleged criminal tendencies than finding help for at-risk students. . .
Some school administrators seem largely unaware their schools' data is being used to profile minors. The Sheriff's Office, however, claims it has been the recipient of student info/data for two decades. Its move to put minors on the same level as adults is perhaps to be expected, given the lack of oversight or awareness by anyone else involved. . .
And so it goes. The data schools are sharing with law enforcement is fed into a spreadsheet that prejudges kids, setting them up for more interactions with law enforcement… which sets them up for even more marks in the at risk column . . .It would be nice to believe this garbage in/garbage out pre-criming ends when a student graduates high school. But there's no reason to believe the Sheriff's Office doesn't feed info on graduates into its other pre-crime system, ensuring deputies spend a considerable amount of time hassling people they suspect might commit a crime at some undetermined point in the future.
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Mesa City Council Meeting Tomorrow: Contract Authorizations for over $8 Million Dollars
Monday, August 22, 2016
10 November 2016
PredPol: Predictive Policing Software Purchased by City of Mesa
*5-h
3-Year Contract = $170,200
16-0861 Three-Year Term Contract for Predictive Policing Subscription for the Police Department (Sole Source) (Citywide)
This contract will provide services, resources and tools to support a successful implementation of Predictive Policing (PredPol) services to support the City’s efforts to suppress, deter and reduce crime.
PredPol software will provide easy to use predictions for where and when property crime, drug crime, gun violence, gang activity and traffic incidents are most likely to occur based on historical data, current crimes and mathematical modeling.
The Police Department and Purchasing recommend awarding the contract to the sole source vendor, PredPol; year 1 at $60,400; and years 2 and 3 at $54,900 annually, based on estimated requirements.
The one-time setup fee of $5,500 and an annual subscription fee of $54,900 (for the first three years) are funded by the Asset Forfeiture (RICO) Funds.
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Now Being Used By Government Agencies For Revenue Generation
Source >> TechDirt
Data, even lots of it, can be useful. But it also leads to erroneous conclusions and questionable correlations.
Ever been baffled by the content of a "targeted" ad? Just imagine the fun you'll have when "lol 'targeted' ad" is replaced with nearly-incessant "interactions" with law enforcement
Back on August 21st your MesaZona blogger uploaded three posts about this software purchase that was approved by the Mesa City Council ... those ignored issues are here now.
It's not all bad, though. There are uses for aggregate data that don't create privacy concerns or fears of ever more biased policing . . .
On the other hand, the desire to obtain any data available without a warrant is resulting in some very twisted uses of third-party records. . .
Maria Polletta posted this article in the Arizona Republic on October 21, 2016 - two months after the Mesa City Council approved contracts, addressing lingering issues that few people are aware of . . . Over the next three years, Mesa will spend nearly $200,000 to implement PredPol crime-predicting software with councilmembers little informed about it.
In August, a Mesa staff report asserted PredPol's hot-spot-generation tool would "support the city’s efforts to suppress, deter and reduce crime."
The department still is working to determine when it will begin using the software; how many officers it will train to use it; and what, if any, any tools or strategies it will use to measure PredPol's effectiveness, police spokesman Nik Rasheta said.
...Mesa Vice Mayor Dennis Kavanaugh, a longtime advocate of innovation and experimentation in public safety, called predictive policing "one of the best practices recommended for departments to consider," despite its potential limitations. . .
The city council also approved in later meetings license plate reader software, cautions that were expressed not here in Mesa
Official Police Business: Does predictive policing actually work? Crime forecasting tools are taking off, but good data is hard to findBy Matt Stroud on @MattStroud
Official Police Business is a weekly column and newsletter by reporter Matt Stroud about new developments in police technology, and the ways technology is changing law enforcement — think body cameras, cell-site simulators, surveillance systems, and electroshock weapons. Sign up to receive OPB in your email every Wednesday at officialpolicebusiness.com,
Video >> https://volume.vox-cdn.com/embed/ae6a05d46?placement=article&tracking=article%3Amiddle&player_type=null&start_time=null#ooid=VsM3FtMDE6nBxlgrY9L3T-H8BJkYGv4m
Predictive policing is everywhere . . . private company PredPol is supposedly helping police to identify where property crimes and robberies might occur. As those cities’ predictive programs have gotten more and more attention, police chiefs have done their best to get in on the action. . .
But does predictive policing actually work?
