Forget credit scores, police are now running Threat Scores reports the Washington Post.
This isn’t surprising given the risks involved for officers attending an incident or detaining a suspect and now with treasure troves of data available, police forces and public safety agencies are able to evaluate what threats are present.
However there are real concerns about these databases and tools, particularly in how the algorithm determines what a ‘threat’ is. As the Washington Post explains one package will give a military veteran a greater risk rating as they are more likely than the general population to be suffering post traumatic stress disorder.
In promotional materials, Intrado writes that Beware could reveal that the resident of a particular address was a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had criminal convictions for assault and had posted worrisome messages about his battle experiences on social media. The “big data” that has transformed marketing and other industries has now come to law enforcement.
The marketing industry’s use of Big Data has, and continues to be, problematic from a privacy and security point of view, that public agencies are using the same tools raises bigger concern.
Over time, we’re going to need rigorous supervision of how these tools are used. The stakes for individual citizens are high.