Chicago Using Algorithm to Predict Crime

May 24, 2016
A computer algorithm used by the Chicago Police Department to target possible criminals has shown some success.

A computer algorithm used by the Chicago Police Department to target possible criminals has shown some success.

In a drug and gang raid carried out last week, 117 of the 140 people police arrested were on the list compiled by the department, according to The New York Times.

Officials also noted that in a recent report on homicides and shootings over a two-day span, nearly everyone involved was on the list.

"We are targeting the correct individuals," Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told the newspaper. "We just need our judicial partners and our state legislators to hold these people accountable."

The algorithm that assigns scores based on arrests, shootings, affiliations with gang members and other variables to create the Strategic Subject List to predict who is most likely to be shot or shoot someone else.

The department is about three years into the program and on a fourth revision of the computer algorithm that generates the list.

"We know we have a lot of violence in Chicago, but we also know there's a small segment that’s driving this stuff," Johnson said.

Officials are using the list to warn those who are on it that they are under intense scrutiny, while offering social services to those who want help.

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