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Police In Canada Are Tracking People's 'Negative' Behavior In a 'Risk' Database (vice.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Police, social services, and health workers in Canada are using shared databases to track the behavior of vulnerable people -- including minors and people experiencing homelessness -- with little oversight and often without consent. Documents obtained by Motherboard from Ontario's Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) through an access to information request show that at least two provinces -- Ontario and Saskatchewan -- maintain a "Risk-driven Tracking Database" that is used to amass highly sensitive information about people's lives. Information in the database includes whether a person uses drugs, has been the victim of an assault, or lives in a "negative neighborhood."
The Risk-driven Tracking Database (RTD) is part of a collaborative approach to policing called the Hub model that partners cops, school staff, social workers, health care workers, and the provincial government. Information about people believed to be "at risk" of becoming criminals or victims of harm is shared between civilian agencies and police and is added to the database when a person is being evaluated for a rapid intervention intended to lower their risk levels. Interventions can range from a door knock and a chat to forced hospitalization or arrest. Data from the RTD is analyzed to identify trends -- for example, a spike in drug use in a particular area -- with the goal of producing planning data to deploy resources effectively, and create "community profiles" that could accelerate interventions under the Hub model, according to a 2015 Public Safety Canada report. Saskatchewan and Ontario officials say the data in the database is "de-identified" by removing details such as people's names and birthdates, but experts Motherboard spoke to say that scrubbing data so it may never be used to identify an individual is difficult if not impossible.
The Risk-driven Tracking Database (RTD) is part of a collaborative approach to policing called the Hub model that partners cops, school staff, social workers, health care workers, and the provincial government. Information about people believed to be "at risk" of becoming criminals or victims of harm is shared between civilian agencies and police and is added to the database when a person is being evaluated for a rapid intervention intended to lower their risk levels. Interventions can range from a door knock and a chat to forced hospitalization or arrest. Data from the RTD is analyzed to identify trends -- for example, a spike in drug use in a particular area -- with the goal of producing planning data to deploy resources effectively, and create "community profiles" that could accelerate interventions under the Hub model, according to a 2015 Public Safety Canada report. Saskatchewan and Ontario officials say the data in the database is "de-identified" by removing details such as people's names and birthdates, but experts Motherboard spoke to say that scrubbing data so it may never be used to identify an individual is difficult if not impossible.
Is that yet another newspeak term?
And who the FUCK is shocked/surprised over people keeping all kinds of databases? Like every single male geek, I have a database myself keeping track of every single person I've ever met, plotting their current house positions on a map and showing all kinds of stats such as whether they're married, living together with other people, etc. I use it for my personal use only, and it's been very enlightening and depressing...
You know the score pal. You're either cop or you're little people.
It is better to start investigating whether mental health services could help that person live a better life
In America, we call these mental health facilities "prisons", and they are currently benefiting over 2 million citizens. But only 60% have serious mental health issues. But we are working to increase that percentage, and the corresponding profits.
Sure, it might be effective at reducing crime, but there is a big cost that comes with it... one that I hope people aren't willing to pay.
That depends. Do you live in a country with no right to own a firearm, and self defense is heavily restricted? In turn your only real protection comes from the state, acting as a medium between the various facets of society. I get your reasoning, in the US for example castle laws exist. They don't in Canada, and there are places in Canada where police aren't minutes away they can be half a day or more away.
Om, nomnomnom...
Now, on the other hand, if a cop stops you in the street and starts asking you questions and your first reaction is to get uber-defensive and maybe even confrontational, then I'm sorry to say but in my eyes, you're the problem.
And in my eyes, if you don't do this, you're the problem.
Normalizing a police state is not what we should be doing. I am not ok with "papers please". A police state never ends well for its citizens. Given that here in the US police shoot non-armed individuals all the time, yeah, I'm fucking going to be on the defensive if some try to stop me. There's a non-zero chance that they will kill me. In fact, it's about as likely that they will kill me as an actual criminal would.
1. I am from a visible ethnic minority that is responsible for some not-insignificant portion of crime
2. My minority group also generally falls into the lower income bracket
3. It is statistically more probable that a member from my ethnic group will commit a violent crime compared to Caucasian or other groups
And the answer to none of those problems is police action. Those are 100% social issues, and need to be addressed with social change. Cops stopping you and potentially killing you does not solve those issues.
4. If I'm stopped and even searched by someone who is polite and has the welfare of MY community at heart, I welcome it
In what fantasy world do cops have the wellfare of your community at heart? Stop and frisk is the opposite of that. It's a tool of authoritarian repression and discrimination. It does nothing to solve the root issues of the problem, and everything to propagate them. You are far less likely to be carrying drugs than a white person, but you are far more likely to get stopped, searched, possibly killed, and sent to jail if you're not. Killing and jailing the men of minority populations does not make crime better or reduce poverty within those populations. It does exactly the opposite.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor