Can Computers Predict Crimes That Haven’t Happened Yet?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2018
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chicago resident Robert McDaniel was surprised when a police commander showed up at his home to warn him that they were watching him. With only a misdemeanour conviction and arrests for a number of suspected minor offenses, he had somehow made it onto the Chicago Police Department’s so called ‘heat list’ - a list of names created by algorithm of those deemed to be most at risk of either being a victim or perpetrator of violent crime.
In this Inquiry we look at whether computers can predict future of when, where and by whom crimes will be committed. Can analysing ‘big data’ help target scarce resources in more intelligent ways? Or are the algorithms exacerbating the already heightened tensions between police and the public? How effective are some of the ‘predictive policing’ systems already in use? The inner workings of many of these programmes are protected by private copyright laws too so how can you challenge the decision made by a secret algorithm?
(Photo:Chicago Police officers standing next to a police car and a taped off crime scene. Credit: Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Neil McCarthy. |
| 0:01.8 | Just before the inquiry starts, I want to bring you up to date with my podcast, |
| 0:06.4 | because a lot's been happening during the last few weeks. |
| 0:09.2 | Death in Ice Valley has become quite popular around the world, and thanks if you've downloaded it and our |
| 0:14.1 | investigation is progressing as we try to piece together as much as we can about the life |
| 0:18.8 | of a woman whose body was found in Norway in 1970 it It's becoming a Cold War mystery. There are now seven episodes |
| 0:26.1 | to catch up on, set for death in Ice Valley. |
| 0:29.3 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me Chloe Hadgemuthieu. |
| 0:35.0 | Each week one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:40.0 | Back in 2013, |
| 0:45.0 | 2013, Robert McDaniel was watching TV at his home in Chicago |
| 0:49.0 | when he heard a knock at the door. |
| 0:51.0 | It was a female police commander. a friend of his had been shot dead in the street. But Robert couldn't imagine what |
| 1:04.1 | the police were doing at his door. Beyond a minor conviction for smoking |
| 1:08.2 | marijuana when he was much younger, the 22-year-old hadn't broken the law. |
| 1:14.0 | She explained that the police were using a new computer program |
| 1:18.0 | that had predicted that he, Robert McDaniel, |
| 1:21.0 | was very likely to either get shot or to shoot someone else sometime soon. |
| 1:28.0 | And so she had a chilling message for him. |
| 1:32.1 | We're watching you. |
| 1:34.0 | Mr Marks, by mandated the District of Columbia Pre-crime Division. |
| 1:38.0 | I'm placing you under arrest for the future murder of Sarah Marks and Donald |
... |
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