Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by wolfram74 on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @01:48PM
(#37755213)
the "right number" is strongly dependent on what the consequences of false positives are. If you're comfortable pulling numbers from thin air, 0.5% of these guided patrols lead to prevented crimes, but 10% lead to arrests of simply suspicious looking people (suspicious on grounds of being around where crime is predicted) and then while they're being detained are late for a job and get fired. Is 20 people getting fired worth preventing one crime? Say, a catalytic converter being stolen, since "crime" is very bad, not, say, murder particularly.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Predictive Policing Software Is Pretty Terrible at Predic...
by smogcutter on Tuesday October 03, 2023 @02:48PM
(#37755932)
Further, who in the general vicinity of a precrime report is “suspicious looking”? Who gets their day, if not their life, turned upside down?
Thankfully, police are notoriously fair-minded and empathetic, and never arbitrary, deceptive, or biased when it comes to probable cause.