The Los Angeles Police Department is relying on computer software to predict where crimes occur. The software uses an algorithm and criminal data including time, location, and type of crime, to predict criminal hot spots. The program was launched in the San Fernando Valley last year, and the city has already seen double-digit drops in property crimes. There are plans to use the program citywide starting next year. Skeptics of the program, such as Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, an assistant law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, are concerned that police could abuse the process with racial profiling or stereotyping a neighborhood or an area.
