"The Victoria Police employ a risk-based system that classifies young people who have been in conflict with the law as ‘youth network offenders (YNOs)’ or ‘core youth network offenders" @DrLWeber1 @MigrationMonash #VicPolWatch Thread:
"A senior local officer explained: ‘We can run that tool now and it will tell us - like the kid might be 15 - it tells how many crimes he is going to commit before he is 21 based on that, and it is a 95% accuracy. It has been tested.’
"Young people who participated in this study said they were often asked about their age, identity and friendship networks and required to account for their presence when they were gathering in public places, using public transport or simply walking along the street."
"One young person reported being told by an officer ‘you’re going to be in the system forever’, reflecting the data-driven nature of risk-based policing. Another participant said: ‘They are trying to judge you on your past’.
"Data driven systems can hard-wire and build in pre-existing prejudices and biases" #VicPolWatch #RacialProfiling See here for more: policeaccountability.org.au/racial-profili…
Young people reported a wide range of incidents of violence, assaults, harassment, racial abuse, and negative feelings arising from encounters with police - all likely to undermine their sense of belonging.
There's more on VicPol's use of data-driven predictive tech in this recent article: thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime… #VicPolWatch
The Policing Young People in NSW report, found that young people in the Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP) experience “inappropriate forms of over-policing disproportionate to the future risks they are alleged to pose to society" rlc.org.au/article/polici…
"these systems amplify and ‘hardwire’ pre-existing biases within police data, directing police to the same targets that were already entered into the system (Williams and Kind 2019 Sentas and Pandolfini 2017). - @DrLWeber1 #VicPolWatch
Weber talks about the "net-widening effect, even in the absence of wrongdoing, since repeated contacts leave indelible traces within police systems which may then guide future interactions." monash.edu/__data/assets/…
"The collection of ‘community intelligence’ through proactive ‘engagement’ by general duties police and PSOs
should not be considered a valid reason for intervening in the lives of young people, or any community
member." -@DrLWeber1
should not be considered a valid reason for intervening in the lives of young people, or any community
member." -@DrLWeber1
Algorithmic racism & bias is covered in a brilliant recent documentary #CodedBias by @shalinikantayya "Coded Bias” serves as both a wake-up call (to invasive practices the public doesn’t yet realize are being implemented) and a call to action." @Variety_Film
"The operational tactics associated with risk-based policing include surveillance and monitoring of ‘high risk’ people and places, and the use of disruption as a preemptive measure." @DrLWeber1 in monash.edu/__data/assets/…
"In Victoria, data-driven models to predict youth offending and assign known offenders into risk-categories have
been developed in-house by the State Intelligence Division." @DrLWeber1
been developed in-house by the State Intelligence Division." @DrLWeber1
"the Victorian Police Minister announced the development of an ‘advanced analytical tool’ as early as February 2017" premier.vic.gov.au/hi-tech-monito…
"The absence of transparency and the automated nature of decision-making associated with these systems have been associated with lack of accountability." thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/…
"The building in of biases, often related to race or ethnic identity, stems from existing patterns of intensive policing of certain groups that are reflected in the source data, and are then ‘hard-wired’ in to predictive, risk-based systems
(Williams and Kind 2019)."
(Williams and Kind 2019)."
"while predictive tools used by Victoria Police are considered neutral with respect to ethnicity or other markers, risk-based approaches may be inadvertently promoting a racialized form of policing practice..." @DrLWeber1
In NSW, the Suspect Targeting Management Program (STMP) was investigated (inadequately) by LECC, will @ibacVic investigate @VictoriaPolice's use of similar risk-based targeting program's? piac.asn.au/2020/02/14/pia…
