{"id":29594,"date":"2017-10-07T10:23:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-07T15:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=29594"},"modified":"2017-10-07T10:29:45","modified_gmt":"2017-10-07T15:29:45","slug":"new-book-the-rise-of-big-data-policing-surveillance-race-and-the-future-of-law-enforcement-essential-reading-for-anyone-who-wants-to-understand-how-technology-is-changing-american-policing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=29594","title":{"rendered":"New book: “The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement” | “Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology is changing American policing.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement<\/a> (Kirkus 2017)<\/p>\n

Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology is changing American policing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Review by the publisher:
\n<\/p>\n

A survey of predictive policing: how data makes it possible, its benefits and pitfalls, and what it may portend for American law enforcement and race relations.<\/p>\n

In an important book that goes to the heart of issues at the forefront of contemporary life, Ferguson (Law\/Univ. of the District of Columbia; Why Jury Duty Matters: A Citizen\u2019s Guide to Constitutional Action, 2012) examines how police departments are now using supposedly \u201cobjective\u201d data-driven surveillance technologies to work more effectively in a budget-cutting era and to avoid claims of racial bias. In this engaging, well-written narrative, based on studies and a deep understanding of policing, the author describes the growing police use of shared data (the National Crime Information Center database is \u201creportedly accessed 12 million times a day by authorities\u201d), its effects on how and where police work, and its usefulness in predicting future criminals (just as Amazon uses data to identify repeat shoppers). Some uses of data are surprising, as in Chicago, New Orleans, and other cities, where police maintain \u201cheat lists\u201d of individuals likely to be involved in crimes and then write to and visit the listed suspects, warning them to avoid criminal activity. The data used in predictive policing is prone to bias and error, warns Ferguson, and it includes \u201cblack data,\u201d which is opaque, hidden in complex algorithms deemed proprietary by software vendors who work with police. Using erroneous data can lead to \u201caggressive police presence, surveillance, and perceived harassment\u201d in poor communities of color. In fact, \u201cbig data policing reifies many of the systemic inequalities of traditional policing,\u201d writes the author, who is candid in his assessment of the role of implicit bias in law enforcement. He concludes with questions he urges police departments to ask about racial bias, error, and accountability in data-driven policing.<\/p>\n

Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology is changing American policing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ferguson is the premiere author on Big Data and policing. This is, indeed, an important work that needs to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

Purchase from the publisher at the link above or Barnes & Noble<\/a> Amazon<\/a> or your local bookseller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and the Future of Law Enforcement (Kirkus 2017) Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how technology is changing American policing. Review by the publisher:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-surveillance-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29594"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29598,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29594\/revisions\/29598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}