Predictive policing is the use of data to identify crimes before they happen. A system like this monitors all available data feeds watching for trends and triggers that might lead to crime. Once a trend is identified as reching a crisis point, an attempt can be made to halt a crime before it can occur.

Crime or hotspot mapping has been used to identify likely areas of crime based on both location and time to move units into place for faster response prior to an incident. Moving units around based on time of day or week vs weekend is simply resources management, but data analysis were used to identify frequency and then when the next likely crime would occur.

These systems identified that a violent incident might happen in one neighborhood every three days and another neighborhood every five days. The frequencey could be used to model when an incident was imminent and maintain sufficient police presence for a fast response or possibly even to avert an event in response to police presence.

Newer systems have access to more and finer data. Monitoring known gang channels, as an example, can attempt to identify locations and individuals who might be involved. The holy grail of predictive policing would be to monitor communication channels in order to identify rising stress levels building towards conflict.

Where you've seen it - Minority Report, the Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise film about future crime, focuses on a special police unit whose role is to identify and arrest murderers before they can kill someone.

My likely scenario - In a perfect world, a system like this one would offer two benefits: it would protect potential victims and it would also protect the perpetrator from themselves - stopping someone from acting out a criminal act and getting appropriate support to avoid such acts in the future.

In light of the government spying (not just the NSA, but many other countries as well) and willingness to manipulate and avoid judicial oversight, I find it hard to believe such a service would be used to help a potential perpetrator. More likely, district attorneys looking to make a name for themselves in politics will attempt to find ways to punish someone by using the data for probable cause and then look for evidence of planning to commit a crime (or other ways I don't have the legal background to identify). In too many situations, there will be years or decades of false positives before a predictive policing system can be legislated into a role to suggest counseling instead of prison time.

Your thoughts? - Do you believe a predictive policing system should be used to protect a potential perpetrator from a possible bad decision?

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This topic is from an article by the Reilly center, who offered 10 issues  "for scientists, policy makers, journalists, and lay people to consider' as technological advances change our lives. It's a great opportunity for everyone to do just that, consider where we, as individuals - voting and purchasing individuals, stand on these issues. Here are my first thoughts on each with a plan for deeper consideration in future articles.

I am not including the full content of their article. You should read it for their viewpoints and additional resources.