- Taking a page from the 2002 film Minority Report, New Haven cops want the feds to help them to predict crimes and preempt perpetrators of crimes before they act.
In the neo-noir sci fi flick, detective Tom Cruise has a device that shows him who’s going to commit what nefarious deed before it occurs.
New Haven’s police department hasn’t reached that ambitious goal yet. But it has applied for a federal grant to get started.
Assistant Police Chief Tobin Hensgen told the Board of Aldermen;s Public Safety Committee about the plan Wednesday night. The aldermen then authorized the police department to apply for and accept, if successful, a $300,000 two-year grant from U.S. Department of Justice for a cutting-edge crime analysis computer software package that “will involve geospatial predictive analysis and threshold analysis.”
Why do we care about New Haven, Connecticut? We don't really, except an old friend works there:
Currently the department does basic analysis of data largely using crime statistics and knowledge of hot spots to predict and to deploy resources.
That’s pretty primitive by technology standards.
“We can see hot spots right now, but the new software can actually predict placement of crime based on models where it’s likely to be displaced, and what kinds of resources we put in place,” said Chief Frank Limon.
Hi Frank! A quick question - how is that $300,000 being spent?
- Of the $300,000, $216,000 is for the new software, the remaining $84,000, for overtime.
New software. That wouldn't happen to be software developed in Chicago, would it? The article is kind of vague, but we must confess we have our suspicions about Chicago connections and all. Maybe we're just too damn cynical.