A Japanese Tech Company Claims It Can Predict Crimes Before They Happen

[JaredJones]

A Japanese Tech Company Claims It Can Predict Crimes Before They Happen

It's understandable to be sceptical of Hitachi's new system, but Darrin Lipscomb, an executive in Hitachi's Public Safety and Visualization division, seems more than confident in the technology. "A human just can't handle when you get to the tens or hundreds of variables that could impact crime," said Lipscomb.

And not only that, but Hitachi executives seem to think that, by simply using statistics to determine crime rather than the "instinct" of a certain officer, the HVPCA could potentially cut down on a very real issue here in America: police profiling. But couldn't such an inhuman approach to something as simply human as crime actually be a step back? Quartz'z Amy X. Wang argues that it very well may be.

"Hitachi's system, which the company plans to put into a trial run at police departments in a handful of unspecified cities starting in October, raises two major concerns," she writes.

"1) How accurate will the system be, and 2) What if the system unfairly profiles and targets innocent people as criminals?"

I don't know what she's so nervous about; it all seemed to work out fine for John Anderton, right? (Confession: I have neither seen nor read Minority Report.)

Source: Quartz [http://qz.com/513125/hitachi-says-it-can-predict-crimes-before-they-happen/]

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[Thyunda]

"Social media conversations..."

I'm glad this system only uses information generally available to the public.

 

[Li Mu]

Well this is nonsense...Japan doesn't have crime.

Anyway, we know that Tom Cruise did it!

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Well, if this system doesn't work, waiting for the criminals to tweet pictures of themselves [http://kdvr.com/2015/09/29/couple-arrested-for-ohio-bank-robbery-after-posting-pictures-to-facebook/] may pick up the slack.

 

[RJ 17]

If my understanding of the article is correct, that means it doesn't really "predict" crime, but more like pinpoints areas where crime has a high probability of occurring? I'd imagine most police already know where the crime hot-spots are in the cities they serve in. Again, though, I could be incorrectly understanding that breakdown of what exactly this system does.

 

[Albino Boo]

If my understanding of the article is correct, that means it doesn't really "predict" crime, but more like pinpoints areas where crime has a high probability of occurring? I'd imagine most police already know where the crime hot-spots are in the cities they serve in. Again, though, I could be incorrectly understanding that breakdown of what exactly this system does.

Its where and when. The system is designed to predict in real time the location of a crime.

 

[D3s_ToD3s]

Wouldn't the infamous Watch Dogs be a better comparsion than Minority Report?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

How much of this crime predictive system, relies on Tom Cruise running?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I must test this by commiting some crime! Where is this placed? Japan? Excuse me for a second...

 

[dreng3]

Well, now I need to go rewatch Person of Interest. This is pretty much the plot of that excellent series, with the exception being the "where" and not the "who".

 

[FFHAuthor]

Well, now I need to go rewatch Person of Interest. This is pretty much the plot of that excellent series, with the exception being the "where" and not the "who".

Damn, beat me to the PoI reference.

Anyway;
Speaking to the OP then, I think that this system just does what any police officer can do on their first day before their first shift is over. I know that it looks very impressive to see a computer program that can isolate this kind of thing, but let's face it, you're talking about breaking down a place a crime will happen, that's not very impressive at all. And the area that you're narrowing things down to is massive, 200 square meters is a massive area in a city (judging from the images I can see...it's got most of the city highlighted!), and a police force can usually tell you just about the same area where things are going to happen that aren't that good, and what times they're going to happen.

The only data that it's pointing out is transit maps (where people will be), social media (people saying what they'll do), and weather patterns (criminals don't like bad weather much either). This program just does what anybody who has basic law enforcement familiarity can do.

 

[thewatergamer]

Yeah because these types of systems always work out great right? right? Ok in all seriousness, I have serious doubts, they are pretty much running off of statistics at this point...and lets face it, statistics aren't the most accurate thing

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Somebody at R&D was a bit too into Psycho-Pass.

 

[Kaymish]

This sounds more like psycho-pass right down to innocent people getting sent to therapy just because they are stressed out look like latent criminals
i wonder if it will cause crime because people get flagged and then panic ?

 

[Tsaba]

well.... at the very least the police would be able to put more officers in proximity as a deterrent.

 

[Jadak]

"and 2) What if the system unfairly profiles and targets innocent people as criminals?"

How the heck would it do that? It's not predicting specific crimes with specific people, but rather just supplying likely crime rates based on area. Are police just going to go to a 'danger zone' and start arresting people because crime is more likely there? Right...

System seems solid enough in any case, at least conceptually. No reason it wouldn't be possible to use live data and historical patterns to map upcoming crime rates. Just like predicting the weather, won't be perfect, but might give you some general expectations.

 

[FalloutJack]

Somebody at R&D was a bit too into Psycho-Pass.

Nice one. I was thinking it.

OT: Of course, this is actually nothing like Psycho-Pass in reality, or Minority Report, or an actual prediction. All you've done is compile information that exists to calculate where crime density is greatist. This is not a prediction, but a computerized version of a bunch of policemen staring at a map and pointing to the slum or ghetto that sees the most crime and saying "There it is.". Chances are, if you patrol there regularly, you could find something, and that's Wild Mass Guessing to reach a 'prediction', not actually having precognitive abilities by any means. Show me an averted tragedy that you detailed happening before it happened and then I MIGHT consider this, but don't count on it.

 

[Lightknight]

If it could predict with any degree of accuracy then it would be nice to mobilize police to follow a beat there.

Just as long as we don't preemptively convict individuals based on the statistical likelihood that they would commit a crime then this won't go the minority report route. I wonder though if this will help us counsel individuals at a high statistical risk though? That could be great.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

If it shuts down Tepco and Shinzō Abe and Konami immediately I will accept that it works...

 

[gaztaseven]

On the first picture, there is an alphabetical list of objects that presumably can be toggled to show on the map. And on that list, is the word 'Poo'.

Now I realise letting your dog crap on the street and not picking it up is an offence, but do we really need a computer program to predict when and where it is likely to happen?