Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Co-authored by Cassidy Carroll of The Collins Law Firm, P.C.
Can computer algorithms use officers’ behavior to predict police misconduct?
It may sound like something out of a science-fiction movie, but researchers, part of the White House’s Police Data Initiative, are working at the University of Chicago to try to build a better early warning system that predicts when officers will commit police misconduct against civilians. Using over a decade of data from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, researchers say their algorithm-based early warning system can predict misconduct between police officers and civilians and suggest preventive measures by looking for police misconduct warning signs in the data. The algorithm-based early warning system’s sensitivity and accuracy holds great promise for serving as a method for preventing police misconduct. However, algorithm-based early warning systems to predict police misconduct have been tested before and often met with opposition.