Police technology is getting closer and closer to being able to stop crimes before they occur. Science fiction films like Minority Report no longer seem quite so far-fetched.
The Vancouver Police Department is working with technology that can predict where crimes are most likely to occur, drawing from a wealth of data including that of past offences.
Special Const. Ryan Prox expects the ground-breaking system will be used to stop crimes before they happen by early 2014.
The technology will draw from multiple data sets to predict that a specific crime will probably occur in a specific location at a specific time, he said, so police will know where to go before a crime has been committed.
“We will actually be deploying police units pre-emptively to where crime isn’t happening, but where we’re predicting it might,” said Prox.
Police cars are equipped with mobile terminals with touch screens for easy access to the data while on the go, so officers can make their own decisions on where they should be.
The customized computer system from IBM has been used since 2007, and is making Vancouver's police force leaders in North America, keeping pace with the likes of New York and Los Angeles.
In addition to preventing crime, “big data” can also be used to solve cases traditional techniques couldn’t crack, said Prox.
He said their advanced computer system drew from extensive data sets to help solve a case in 2010 that had been unsolved for a year and a half.
A rapist had been targeting young girls around the Lower Mainland since the 1990s when Prox was asked to put the data system to the test. A vast quantity of data was mined, including housing sale records and other data not typically included in a police investigation, using a method known as “geo-profiling.”
Within six weeks, the computer spat out a name: Ibata Hexamer, with 99.7 per cent certainty. A warrant was promptly issued for his arrest. He pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault last August.
Prox said that without the computer system, the case might not have been solved.
“He would not have been caught until he would have offended again,” said Prox.
Police are using an increasing number of data sources to find criminals. Using data to guide police work can help make their work smarter and more efficient, to keep costs low and streets safe, said Prox.
Such investigative technologies have also caught the attention of privacy watchdogs.
For decades, there have been plenty of ways that everyday citizens are monitored by businesses, but SFU criminology professor Richard Frank said government agencies are getting access to more data than ever before.
“More and more, the government is stepping in and collecting it from separate entities,” he said.
He said those concerned about privacy infringement should remember that much of what we do online isn’t really that private. He said we should think of email providers and social media sites as public property.
With files from the Canadian Press and CTV's Julie Nolin
