Crime Prediction Software Promised to Be Free of Biases. It’s Not.
PredPol, short for Predictive Policing is an algorithm that used reported crimes to “predict” criminal activity. What it did was pseudo-science hidden behind a lack of human input. Gizmodo took a long hard look and the results are alarming. Past prejudices were amplified.
Between 2018 and 2021, more than one in 33 U.S. residents were potentially subject to police patrol decisions directed by crime-prediction software called PredPol…
…Residents of neighborhoods where PredPol suggested few patrols tended to be Whiter and more middle- to upper-income. Many of these areas went years without a single crime prediction.
By contrast, neighborhoods the software targeted for increased patrols were more likely to be home to Blacks, Latinos, and families that would qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program.
Gizmodo