University of Chicago researchers analyze police misconduct

CHICAGO (AP) - Two University of Chicago research teams are analyzing big data to determine whether a police officer will have improper interaction with a citizen.

The Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/2bqy324 ) reports that the university's Crime Lab is working with the Chicago Police Department to build a predictive data program to improve the department's Early Intervention System, which attempts to determine if an officer is likely to engage in aggressive conduct with a civilian.

The other team is part of the university's Center for Data Science & Public Policy. It's expected to launch a data-driven pilot of an Early Intervention System with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina by the end of the summer.

The center is also working on similar efforts with the Los Angeles County sheriff's office and the Nashville and Knoxville police departments in Tennessee.

"The thing we're finding is that using it (big data) to predict officer adverse incidents is just one use," said Rayid Ghani, director of the Center for Data Science & Public Policy. "Inside police departments, they are doing a lot of other things - performance management, other safety things, training. This is easily extensible to all those things."

Data crunching has been using in policing since the 1970s, but experts say applying this level of big-data processing - similar to techniques that help determine email spam, a person's movie preferences or advertisements on a social media page - to predict police misconduct is new.

"Ultimately the goal here is that you want to train and retain the very highest-quality police force that you can," said Jens Ludwig, director of the Crime Lab.

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Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com