A Predictive Tool For Armed Police

Police operations will be able to use behavioral data and get warning signs that a police officer may be breaking the force’s rules and is about to shoot an unarmed civilian.

To build the algorithms that may one day be able to create a sort of “risk score” for police, researchers are using familiar tools: data from police body cameras and squad cars, and the internal reports usually kept locked in police departments away from researchers, including information on officer suspensions and civilian complaints.

Of all this information, body cameras, which were purpose-built to create an objective and unaltered record of an officer’s every move on the job, may be the most valuable. At least in theory: Since the Justice Department began offering $ millions in grants for body cameras in 2015 and advocates began clamoring for the technology, police have claimed their cameras have fallen off and become unplugged or blew-up and the footage deleted.

But the push to use body cameras on police now has a surprising source: the camera industry itself. Late April, Axon, the No. 1 manufacturer of body cameras in the United States, announced its Performance tool, which is seemingly targeted at the long line of high-profile body-camera failures.

The tool, a paid upgrade for current customers, is a dashboard that quantifies how often officers turn their cameras on during calls and whether they categorise videos correctly.

Axon’s announcement came just after a jury convicted the Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor of shooting and killing an unarmed civilian, the Australian-born yoga instructor Justine Damond. The case is among the most high-profile incidents of police violence that involved body-camera failure.

While both Noor and his partner wore body cameras the night Damond was shot, neither was turned on to record the shooting. Shannon Barnette, the sergeant on duty and Noor’s supervisor, was the first to arrive on the scene after Damond’s death. Footage from her body camera is split into three parts.

In the first, she drives to the scene. In the second, she approaches another officer; says “I’m on,” presumably referring to her body camera; and then turns the camera off. The footage resumes two minutes later. Prosecutors asked Barnette why her camera was turned off, then on. “No idea,” Barnette responded. He testified that the department’s policy on when the cameras are supposed to be on was “not clear” at the time. Since the shooting, the Minneapolis Police Department has revised its policy: The cameras stay on.

Lauren Haynes, the former associate director of the Center for Data Science and Public Policy at the University of Chicago, helped design a statistical model to predict when officers may become involved in an “adverse event,” anything from a routine complaint up to an officer-involved shooting. The project didn’t use the kind of body-camera data that Axon’s new tool works with, but she says they’re “absolutely something that could be put into the model.”

The team found that a number of stressors were related to those adverse events, including whether officers worked a second job, whether they took too many sick days, and whether they’d recently responded to a domestic-violence incident or a suicide. Place matters, too: Officers were more likely to be involved in an adverse event if they were sent into neighborhoods far from their usual beat.

Haynes thinks it’s possible that officers won’t be completely opposed to the idea of risk scoring. “If it comes off as a punitive thing, people are going to be against it,” she says. On the other hand, if the scores are presented as a tool to keep departments from pushing officers too hard, the plan might gain some support.

“You want to put people in the right interventions for them,” Haynes says. “There are all kinds of different solutions depending on what the specific risk is.”

Predictive tools have an inherent risk. They offer only the probability of any event happening. They could be wrong or even dangerous, creating feedback loops that penalize officers who seek counseling, for example. Cameras and algorithms offer potential tools for police accountability, but don’t ensure it.

DefenseOne:

You Might Also Read:

Smartphones Are Working For Dutch Police:

 

 

« US Army Identifies How To Improve Cybersecurity
Digital Advertising Is A $Billion Ripoff »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Infosecurity Europe, 3-5 June 2025, ExCel London

Infosecurity Europe, 3-5 June 2025, ExCel London

This year, Infosecurity Europe marks 30 years of bringing the global cybersecurity community together to further our joint mission of Building a Safer Cyber World.

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

BackupVault

BackupVault

BackupVault is a leading provider of automatic cloud backup and critical data protection against ransomware, insider attacks and hackers for businesses and organisations worldwide.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO is the market leader in HPE Non-Stop Security, Risk Management and Compliance.

Thales

Thales

Thales provides solutions, services and products that help its customers in the defence, aeronautics, space, transportation and digital identity and security markets to fulfil their critical missions.

iLand

iLand

iland is a global cloud service provider of secure and compliant hosting for infrastructure (IaaS), disaster recovery (DRaaS), and backup as a service (BaaS).

CUIng.org

CUIng.org

The CUIng initiative was launched to tackle the problem of criminal exploitation of information hiding techniques.

Intezer Labs

Intezer Labs

The only solution replicating the concepts of the biological immune system into cyber-security. Intezer provides enterprises with unparalleled Threat Detection and accelerates Incident Response.

Phew

Phew

Phew are New Zealand cyber security specialists with expertise and experience forged in global financial markets, IT&T, management consulting and SME business management.

Digital Law

Digital Law

Digital Law is the only UK law firm to specialise solely in online, data and cyber law.

Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB)

Irish National Accreditation Board (INAB)

INAB is the national accreditation body for Ireland. The directory of members provides details of organisations offering certification services for ISO 27001.

Extreme Protocol Solutions (EPS)

Extreme Protocol Solutions (EPS)

Extreme Protocol Solutions is an industry leading Data Sanitization Software, Hardware and Onsite Service Provider.

ValidSoft

ValidSoft

ValidSoft is a security software company, providing telecommunications-based multi-factor authentication, identity and transaction verification technology.

GateKeeper Enterprise

GateKeeper Enterprise

The GateKeeper Enterprise software is an identity access management solution. Automated proximity-based authentication into computers and websites. Passwordless login and auto-lock PCs.

KryptoKloud

KryptoKloud

KryptoKloud offer a suite of Managed Services including Security Monitoring and Incident Response as well as a full portfolio of Compliance, Governance and Audit solutions.

CyberconIQ

CyberconIQ

CyberconIQ provide an integrated Human Defense Platform that reduces the probability and/or the cost of a cybersecurity breach by measurably improving our clients risk posture and compliance culture.

Custard Technical Services

Custard Technical Services

Custard provide Network Security for all types of businesses across many industries, helping to keep them safe and secure.

CyberXposure

CyberXposure

CyberXposure has been built by a team comprising of Cyber Security Professionals and SAAS experts in data backup, disaster recovery and cyber-security.

FTI Consulting

FTI Consulting

FTI Consulting is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes.

FusionAuth

FusionAuth

FusionAuth is the customer authentication and authorization platform that makes developers' lives awesome.