Santa Cruz Cops Experimenting with "Pre-Crime?"

"Sir, were you thinking about committing a crime?"
Image from source, TPM

Minority Report was one of the better Tom Cruise movies, probably because it was written by sci-fi great Phillip K. Dick. The movie had a lot of nifty futuristic computers and vehicles that probably don't look as nifty a few years later. I'll have to watch again to be sure. But the main thrust of the plot was "pre-crime," and the practice of arresting people for crimes before they commit them.  Ethically dicey to say the least.  In the case of the Santa Cruz police, they're not using "precog" mutant people to do it, they've got a computer doing the job. And they're not arresting people before they commit a crime. Yet. 


[Excerpt]


Santa Cruz Cops Experiment With 'Predictive Policing'

The police department in Santa Cruz, California, has begun an experiment that uses a mathematical algorithm to predict when and where certain crimes will be committed, and puts police on the scene before they happen. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo