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We're currently hosting our discussions at Café Walnut, near the corner of 7th & Walnut in Olde City, just across the street from Washington Square Park. The cafe's entrance is below street level down some stairs, which can be confusing if it's your first time. Our group meets in the large room upstairs.

Since we're using the cafe's space, they ask that each person attending the meetup at least purchase a drink or snack. Please don't bring any food or drinks from outside.

The cafe is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 2 blocks west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east & 1 block north. For those who are driving, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.

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IS "THE MINORITY REPORT" THE FUTURE OF POLICING?

ANALYZING THE DEBATES OVER MASS SURVEILLANCE, CRIMINAL PROFILING, PREDICTIVE POLICING & "PRE-CRIME"

INTRODUCTION:

Back in 2002, Steven Spielberg directed the film "The Minority Report" based on a short story by sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. It was set in the United States in the year 2054 and where the crime rate has almost dropped to all-time lows because a specialized police department called "PreCrime" is able to use the foreknowledge provided by three psychics hooked to a supercomputer to detect & stop potential criminals before they've committed their crime. The film also showed how the Precrime division was able to use other types of advanced technology to aid in law enforcement. For example, they had access to a network of cameras with optical recognition that could locate a person almost anywhere they went. And since all cars were now self-driving, they could be easily overridden & rerouted by police to prevent criminals from fleeing. The film was widely praised for the way it presented the moral dilemma posed by the clash between the utilitarian goal of preventing crime and the basic rights that were sacrificed like the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. Ultimately, when the protagonist (played by Tom Cruise) is falsely framed for a murder and he eventually proves his innocence, the whole PreCrime system is abandoned.

In this meetup, we'll discuss some emerging technological trends in law enforcement that could be leading us towards something like the "pre-crime" system from Minority Report. In the 1st section, we'll discuss how mass surveillance has shifted from the NSA to local law enforcement. In the 2nd section, we'll discuss how big data is being used for various types of criminal profiling. In the 3rd section, we'll look at how the "broken windows policing" of the 1990s has shifted into "predictive policing" with the aid of computer programs that allow police to focus their manpower on "hot spots". In the 4th section, we'll look at various examples of "pre-crime" interventions that amount to punishing suspects before they've committed a crime.

RELEVANT MATERIAL FROM PAST MEETUPS:

Way back in September of 2016, where we discussed some of the legal questions raised by police mass surveillance, such as the way the 4th Amendment ties into a broader "right to privacy", the "plain view doctrine" which allows a warrantless search based on anything witnessed in public that's incriminating enough to generate probable cause, and the "open-fields doctrine" which allows a warrantless search outside a property owner's "curtilage" (i.e. the land immediately surrounding a dwelling).
https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/mchjxlyvmbdc/

Back in April of 2018, we had a meetup entitled "Understanding Gun Violence". We looked at gun homicides in America and addressed some of the common misconceptions that people have when they try to parse the statistics presented in the news media. This task is made difficult both by the general public's poor understanding of statistics and the frequent "massaging" of statistics by both sides in the gun control debate to try to fit them into their preferred narrative. One of the points we discussed which is relevant to today's discussion is that most violent crime is committed by a very small percentage of repeat offenders, and even low-income urban neighborhoods with lots of risk factors become much safer if "hot spot policing" focuses on removing these career criminals.
https://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Political-Agnostics/events/249126047/

Back in April of 2018, the Skeptics in the Pub had a meetup entitled "Racial Bias in the Police Use of Force". They examined the data on racial bias in police use of force incidents in the U.S. Two of the basic takeaways was that the data collection & aggregation on police use of force isn't very comprehensive, and as with the statistics on gun violence there is a lot of dishonest "massaging" of statistics -- in this case, to either support or counter the charges of systematic racism by police depending on the ideological biases of the journalists & pundits telling the story.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/249125196/

The Skeptics in the Pub meetup had a meetup in December of 2018 entitled "Is Mass Incarceration a Conspiracy?" that fact-checked various allegations about the prison system in the U.S. Many laypeople are unaware that private prisons only hold a minority of prisoners and didn't cause mass incarceration, that prison labor is mostly used for routine tasks within the prison or state work not private corporations, that several aspects of the "school-to-prison pipeline" are overstated, and that very few prisoners are locked up for non-violent drug offenses. While there are problems with the prison system, especially the unusually high percentage of citizens that are incarcerated, this appears more like a policy failure than a conspiracy.
https://www.meetup.com/Philly-Skeptics/events/lckqkqyxqbvb/

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DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:

The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over mass surveillance & predictive policing. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles & watch all the videos prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about about 53 minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

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I. THE RISE OF MASS SURVEILLANCE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT:

  • HOW DOES SCOTUS CURRENTLY INTERPRET THE 4th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO PRIVACY & THE LIMITS ON SEARCHES?

  • SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED ABOUT POLICE SURVEILLANCE THAT CAPTURES AUDIO & VISUAL IN "PLAIN SIGHT" IN PUBLIC AREAS, E.G. BODY CAMS & RED LIGHT CAMERAS, LICENSE PLATE READERS, ETC?

  • IS AERIAL SURVEILLANCE AN INVASION OF PRIVACY SINCE IT CAPTURES IMAGES OF PEOPLE ON PRIVATE PROPERTY?

  • DO POLICE USE STINGRAYS MERELY TO TRACK CELL PHONES, OR TO LISTEN IN ON CALLS & READ TEXTS? DOES THEIR USE QUALIFY AS A WARRANTLESS SEARCH, SINCE IT INTERCEPTS ALL CELL PHONES IN A GIVEN AREA?

  • CAN LAW ENFORCEMENT REMOTELY ACTIVATE CELL PHONES' MICS & CAMERAS TO SPY ON PEOPLE? DOES THIS REQUIRE A WARRANT?

  • IS IT AN INVASION OF PRIVACY FOR POLICE TO HARVEST USER DATA FROM SOCIAL MEDIA, OR WAS IT SHARED IN A PUBLIC AREA?

  • TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE NSA SHARE ITS METADATA FROM TEXTS & EMAILS WITH THE DEA & OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES, AND SHOULD THIS QUALIFY AS AN ILLEGAL SEARCH? DOES LAW ENFORCEMENT OFTEN CONCEAL THE ORIGIN OF INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE NSA THROUGH "PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION"?

1a) Ilya Shapiro, "Carpenter v. United States: Does the Fourth Amendment allow for a warrantless search and seizure of cellphone location data by the police?" (video - 3:50 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARmiXYBrzoI

1b) PBS, "New police surveillance techniques raise privacy concerns" (video - 7:44 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbR-1H7YPCc

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II. CRIMINAL PROFILING AND THE RISE OF TERRORIST WATCH LISTS, GANG DATABASES & THE "NEW COINTELPRO":

  • HOW DO PEOPLE END UP ON AMERICA'S TERRORIST WATCH LIST? HOW MANY OF THEM HAVE NO TERRORIST TIES? HOW MANY ARE AMERICANS? IS THERE AN ELEMENT OF RACIAL BIAS?

  • HOW DO PEOPLE END UP ON GANG DATABASES? HOW MANY OF THEM HAVE NO GANG AFFILIATION? IS THERE AN ELEMENT OF RACIAL BIAS?

  • HAS BIG DATA HELPED LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES TRACK DOMESTIC EXTREMIST GROUPS? TO WHAT EXTENT HAVE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES TARGETED POLITICAL ACTIVIST GROUPS LIKE THE TEA PARTY, OCCUPY MOVEMENT & BLACK LIVES MATTER IN A WAY REMINISCENT OF "COINTELPRO"?

  • HAVE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES HELPED REDUCE SEX CRIMES BY MAKING NEIGHBORS AWARE OF POTENTIAL DANGER? COULD POTENTIAL SEX OFFENDERS BE PROFILED PRIOR TO COMMITTING A CRIME, E.G. BY MONITORING ONLINE PORN CONSUMPTION & INTERNET SEARCHES?

  • IS IT TRUE THAT POLICE CAN SEE WHO HAS MEDICAL MARIJUANA PRESCRIPTIONS WHEN THEY READ THEIR LICENSE PLATE? COULD THIS LEAD TO LAW ENFORCEMENT HAVING ACCESS TO ALL OF OUR MEDICAL RECORDS?

  • HOW ADVANCED ARE FACIAL RECOGNITION PROGRAMS? CAN THEY PREDICT WHO MIGHT BE A CRIMINAL BASED ON GENETIC MARKERS, AS THE ISRAELI STARTUP "FACEPTION" CLAIMS?

2a) NowThis World, "Do Terrorist Watchlists Work?" (video - 2:58 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlLpveA6Io4

2b) Young Turks, "Useless 'Gang Database' To Be Destroyed" (video - 5:39 min, start at 0:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTvIz6bqqxU&t=30s

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III. FROM "BROKEN WINDOWS POLICING" TO "PREDICTIVE POLICING":

  • DOES THE EVIDENCE SUCH AS NYC'S CRIME DROP IN THE 1990s SUGGEST THAT "BROKEN WINDOWS POLICING" - I.E. CRACKING DOWN ON MINOR CRIMES LIKE PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS, LITTERING, VANDALISM, TURNSTILE HOPPING, ETC. - REDUCES THE RATE OF MORE SERIOUS CRIMES? OR DOES IT LEAD POLICE TO HASSLE INNOCENT PEOPLE & ERODE THE COMMUNITY'S TRUST, PERHAPS EVEN CREATING A BACKLASH?

  • DID "TERRY V. OHIO" IMPROPERLY SHIFT THE BURDEN OF PROOF POLICE NEED TO CONDUCT A "STOP & FRISK" FROM "PROBABLE CAUSE" TO "REASONABLE SUSPICION"? DID "ILLINOIS V. WADLOW" LEGALIZE CLASSIST/RACIST BIAS BY ALLOWING POLICE TO LABEL A POOR NEIGHBORHOOD A "HIGH CRIME AREA" AS PART OF THEIR "REASONABLE SUSPICION" FOR STOPS?

  • DOES THE EVIDENCE SUGGEST THAT "STOP & FRISK" IS EFFECTIVE AT CATCHING ILLEGAL FIREARMS & REDUCING VIOLENT CRIME? OR DOES IT LEAD TO HASSLING TOO MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE & CREATE THE SAME PROBLEMS AS BROKEN WINDOWS POLICING?

  • CAN FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGIES ALLOW POLICE OFFICERS TO TARGET REPEAT OFFENDERS WITHOUT HASSLING OTHERS? WOULD THIS HELP ENSURE EX-CONS DON'T RECIDIVIZE, OR DOES IT CREATE A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY BY STIGMATIZING THEM?

  • CAN BIG DATA BE USED TO PREDICT CRIME "HOT SPOTS" TO WHICH POLICE CAN BE SENT TO PATROL PROACTIVELY TO DETER CRIME? DOES THIS REDUCE CRIME OR JUST DISPLACE IT TO OTHER AREAS?

  • CAN "PROACTIVE POLICING" BE COMBINED WITH "COMMUNITY POLICING" IN A WAY THAT IMPROVES TRUST IN LAW ENFORCEMENT?

3a) David Weisburd, "On Proactive Policing" (video - 7:38 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va2jdnsRo4U

3b) Wired, "How Cops Are Using Algorithms to Predict Crimes" (video - 12:29 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lpCWxlRFAw

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IV. THE RISE OF "PRE-CRIME" INTERVENTIONS & THE "PREVENTIVE STATE":

  • IS PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE ALWAYS WARRANTED? DO THE 5th & 14th AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS OF "DUE PROCESS" & "EQUAL PROTECTION" PREVENT PUNISHING A PERSON WHO HASN'T BEEN CONVICTED OF A CRIME - AND SHOULD THEY?

  • HOW ARE THE TERRORIST WATCH LIST AND "NO-FLY" LIST RELATED? IS THERE ANY EVIDENCE FLIGHT BANS HAVE PREVENTED ANY HIJACKINGS OR TERRORIST ATTACKS?

  • IS THERE ANY EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST "RED FLAG LAWS" THAT ALLOW POLICE TO SEIZE GUNS FROM SUSPICIOUS PEOPLE WITHOUT A TRIAL CAN PREVENT VIOLENT CRIME?

  • HAVE SEX OFFENDER RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS HELPED REDUCE SEX CRIMES? SHOULD THEY BE EXTENDED TO OTHER TYPES OF EX-CONS?

  • SHOULD MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS LOSE THEIR GUN LICENSES? SHOULD THEY LOSE OTHER RIGHTS, E.G. RIGHT TO DRIVE, BASED ON CONCERNS THEY MAY BE INTOXICATED?

  • IN WHAT CASES CAN SOMEONE BE INVOLUNTARILY COMMITTED FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS? COULD SOMEONE WHO VOLUNTARILY SEEKS COUNSELING FACE RESTRICTIONS OF THEIR RIGHTS?

  • DO ALGORITHMS THAT ESTIMATE FLIGHT RISK & RECIDIVISM FOR DETERMINING BAIL & PAROLE AMOUNT TO "PRE-CRIME"?

  • CAN AMERICAN CITIZENS BE HELD WITHOUT TRIAL IN "PREVENTIVE DETENTION" IF THEY'RE SUSPECTED OF BEING INVOLVED IN TERRORISM? IF SO, FOR HOW LONG CAN THEY LEGALLY BE HELD? SHOULD PREVENTIVE DETENTION BE EXPANDED TO OTHER CRIMINAL SUSPECTS?

4a) CGTN w/ Susan Hu, "Anti-terrorism 'no-fly' lists: are they constitutional?" (video - 7:17 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxKP8an-5qs

4b) Newsy, "Can 'red flag' laws stop mass shootings?" (video - 4:49 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b5ISKuW19M

4c) NBC, "Can An Algorithm Save America's Justice System?" (video - 2:22 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWDpOpnONL4

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