Such technology, which resembles the “pre-crime” analysis seen in the film Minority Report, has already been used by the Met to tackle burglary and is said to have produced positive results.
About 3,500 gang members in London are to be targeted by the Met via a new Minority Report-style computer system that will predict where and when offenders will strike next.
“Predictive analytics” software will use police data on “harmful individuals” to map gang activity and membership in each of the capital’s 32 boroughs.
It will also reveal “hotspots” of gang offending, predict the frequency with which members are likely to offend and use a “severity assessment” to work out which mobs pose most danger.
The aim is to let police target their anti-gang efforts more effectively. It is also intended to allow “improved social media monitoring” as a further way of combating gang offending. Details of the scheme, approved by deputy mayor for policing Stephen Greenhalgh, are set out in a City Hall report which says it may play a key role in cutting crime.
It says there are now 3,500 “active gang members” in the city and adds: “These are complex criminal networks, responsible for a high proportion of the crime in London and therefore a significant negative impact on public confidence. This has an obvious drain on police resources and those of the wider criminal justice group.”
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