Singularity Bros   /     Episode 110: Andrew G. Ferguson on Big Data and Predictive Policing

Andrew G. Ferguson stars in this delightfully chilling conversation about the future of big data and law enforcement. Also starring Scott, Tom, Zach, and featuring Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as “Beyoncé.”

Andrew G. Ferguson is a professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia, an expert on such matters as predictive policing and the Fourth Amendment, and the star of such films as “Welcome To Jury Duty.” There’s actually quite a lot more to his bio/résumé, so make sure to peep it at his faculty page.

Recently, he wrote a book, The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement (which was great). Then, he talked to us about it (which was also great). Oh, sure, other stuff happened between those two events, but I’ve said enough already. On with the show!

Notes

• “Secret Cameras Record Baltimore’s Every Move From Above” (via Bloomberg)
• Here are all the big names in predictive policing that were mentioned in the episode:
  • PredPol
  • Palantir
  • HunchLab
  • Risk Terrain Modeling
  • CivicScape
  • IBM’s Predictive Crime Fighting
• Jeez, do I ever not share this piece on Housing First? And the line I flubbed—”We can be true to our principles or we can fix the problem. We cannot do both.”—comes from this piece on a similar initiative.
• “Can Big Data Help Head Off Police Misconduct?” (via NPR)
• “SPARQ [Stanford] Scientists Release Oakland Police Findings”

Media Mentions™

Andrew

• Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler
• Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment by Angela Davis
• all the news, all the time

Tom

• Radley Balko’s Washington Post blog, The Watch
• Ballers
• IT
• Ozark

Zach

• The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement by Andrew G. Ferguson
• South Park