The fascinating thing about the 2002 movie “Minority Report” is that while it is supposed to be based on a fictional future, a lot of what was shown in the movie is starting to become reality. In fact to a certain extent, it seems that the main crux of the show, which is the ability to predict crimes before it happens, is already being used by police.In a report from Reuters, it seems that the police in Chicago have been employing the use of predictive software to help beat crime. While it hasn’t stopped crime from happening anyway, it seems that it is helping because the number of shooting in the 7th District from January to July this year fell by 39% compared to the same period last year. The number of murders has also dropped by 33% to 34 (although citywide the numbers have actually gone up by 3% to 402).
The software is being used to help determine when and where to best deploy officers based on socioeconomic data, weather, business locations, and so on. According to Jonathan Lewin, chief of the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Technical Services, “We are not saying we can predict where the next shooting is going to occur. These are just tools. They are not going to replace (officers).”
Basically if the police were to deploy their resources more efficiently, it could deter crime from happening in places where they’re more likely to happen. While this isn’t exactly the same in Minority Report, we have to say that it’s not entirely different.
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