From Reel Life to Real Life: Pre-Crime Intelligence Software

If you are tech savvy, and happen to watch out Hollywood flicks featuring fantasy technologies, then I suppose you are familiar with the name Minority Report. Yes Sir, the one with Tom Cruise in the lead.

The movie marked a new era re-defining the concept Pre-Crime. Now, first things first, what exactly is Pre-crime? Likely as it sounds, precrime refers to events and motives before an offense has been committed.

Law enforcement agencies in Washington D.C. are all set to adapt this brand new technology. It is supposed that powered by this cutting edge tech tool officials will be capable of predicting the type of crime, hour of its occurrence and not to mention the identity of the criminal much before the crime to actually take place. I guess Einstein mentioned Time to be the fourth dimension thinking of this day. Indeed, the theory of Relativity is such a majestic creation.

The earlier implementations of the software has already been used in Baltimore and Philadelphia. They were pretty limited to predictions of murders by and among parolees and offenders on probation.

The latest version is a re-incarnation of its predecessor. The algorithm and software has been developed by Richard Berk, a professor of criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. Berk’s software technology is powered by a database containing more than 60,000 crimes, including homicides. The software program also includes approximately two dozen variables, utilizing not only empirical data such as age and criminal record, but also geographic location, type of crime, and the relative age of each person when they committed the crime. If things go right the software will be in use specifically in Washington, DC, Boston, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Well, for now there is a disclaimer to this software. It actually isn’t efficient enough to play the oracle. Likely, it can predict the percentages of a criminal to strike again. Berk’s algorithm highly increases the systems accuracy and makes it a more efficient knowledge base.