International Journal on Criminology Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 2016 | Page 72
Telling Tales with Inspector PredPol
a rapturous welcome to every technological breakthrough (including e-commerce)
and—by an amusing coincidence—to everything that lines the pockets of the tycoons
who employ them.
Here is one of many examples of this phenomenon: the media gives a huge
amount of publicity to predictive policing when, in fact, the software is about as
effective as the technology behind on-line dating sites—they both use the same
algorithms. But, yet again, no one dares to criticize! It is a high-tech frenzy, the one
and only road to progress. Anyone who harbors any doubts is nothing more than a
fuddy-duddy.
For further enlightenment, just read what the press barons have had to say
about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 since it disappeared without trace in March 2014.
We have had live coverage of the staggering failure of the “eye in the sky”, with
Washington reduced to begging internet users to go check out the world’s oceans.
More than 2 years after the tragedy, we are none the wiser about the fate of the aircraft,
and the so-called “news” media has not got a word to say about it.
All the talk at the outset was about the miracle of predictive technology. Then
disaster strikes and everyone looks the other way. There is no denying that we have
heard a lot about Flight 370 and its mysterious disappearance. Yet there has not been a
word about the fact that these amazing state-of-the-art systems have failed miserably
to find a 300-ton airliner with a wingspan and length of some 70 m. But is not this the
selfsame spy technology that can (allegedly) pick out the brand name on a pack of
cigarettes that has been discarded on the sidewalk? This is where the real scandal is
to be found: the media has buried this glaring high-tech failure in silence when they
normally shower it with praise on a daily basis.
3. Media Ecstasy and Predictive Policing
If you liked the subprime real-estate rip-off, then you are going to love the
predictive policing scam. It is a security shakedown that, naturally enough, has
electrified the media. The French paper Journal du Dimanche expressed its amazement
at “the machine that can detect crime,” while Le Monde Magazine showcased “the
software that predicts offenses before they take place.” But, if we look a little more
closely, the media excitement is not quite as spontaneous as it seems: all the articles
are almost identical, and the whiff of a free plug can be smelt a mile off.
Most of the newspaper articles on predictive policing mention Minority Report
(the film based on a novel by Philip K. Dick) as proof of how serious the technology
is. But our enthusiastic journalists clearly do not know anything about the movie,
which does not have anything to do with predictive policing! In Dick’s work, three
psychics or “precogs” can anticipate homicides before they occur, and they alert the
police—which is not the same thing at all.
Let us take a look at those cyber “Bernie Madoffs” who claim they can
“predict” crimes and terrorist attacks so we can emphasize the irrefutable evidence
(developed below) at the outset. Both today and in the long term, certain irreducibly
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