George Floyd death: Technology can now predict police officer's behaviour

George Floyd death: Technology can now predict police officer's behaviour

Minneapolis police department

Police worldwide have taken to technology to fight crime and undetake surveillance operations with the help of drones but a unique startup in Chicago named Benchmark Analytics has come up with a software to pointout police behaviour which the MinneapolisPolice Department is looking at very seriously in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder by a police officer.

The announcement was made earlier by police chief Medaria Arradondo. The software has been jointly developed by University of Chicago. The model with the help of algorithms is reportedly able to predict which cop is likely to engage in improper behaviour.

The system takes into account complaints filed by residents, profile of policemen and then ranks them on their "risk" factor.

According to the company's CEO Ron Huberman it combines the University of Chicago's analytical technology with the police department's data to arrive at a conclusion by generating a daily score. It helps the department to work with the cop and help the person to be coached before an official complaint is raised.

The technology helps to negate the possibility of a one-off behaviour by a cop which could lead to mishandling of an incident rather it analysies a pattern of behaviour so that corrective steps can be taken beforehand.

The company has said the predictive data is being used by several law enforcement agencies with Nashville set to flag off the techonlogy shortly.

However, the technology is also dependent on the quality of data and lack of accuracy could hamper its pin-point usage, also the technology is expensive which not every agency or departement can afford.

Nashville's department has reportedly paid $455,000 for a three-year contract, although some agencies have reported it is a three-year deal. The licensed product which is now being widely put on display for commercial purposes has been a point of contention among officials.

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