4 ms·

Scooter crime is exploding in London and police numbers have been falling for a decade. Personally I've had 3 scooter thefts on the past year, including a bike

Scooter crime is exploding in London and police numbers have been falling for a decade. Personally I've had 3 scooter thefts on the past year, including a bike jacking at a red light - more a robbery than theft. All these criminals wear balaclavas even if they're not wearing helmets, and they're used to using countermeasures against CCTV, so facial recognition isn't likely to make a big difference to them.

IshKebab 8y ago
Three in the past year? That's insanely unlucky. Do you carry baskets of iPhones around council estates?
cpmouter 8y ago
Unless moped crime performed by guys with balaclavas is 100% of all the crime that occurs in London, your comment is pointless. There's a way to attack this crime while reducing the number of policemen, and it's to attack the demographics of it, but of course that will get you called names :-)
- fao_ 8y ago
  How is attacking the demographics of crime working for America, and the other countries that do that? As far as I understand, the efficacy of profiling is extremely poor
  - 18pfsmt 8y ago
    Thankfully, racial-profiling is against the law in the US. Unfortunately, some involved in law enforcement do it anyway (sometimes unintentionally), and when they are caught they are disciplined.
    - forapurpose 8y ago
      > when they are caught they are disciplined Under Trump and Attorney General Sessions, the Department of Justice said they were shutting down investigations of police departments for civil rights issues. (I don't remember the exact details.)
      - jakelazaroff 8y ago
        Not sure why parent is getting downvoted; this is a thing that's actually happening. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ag-sessions-says-trump-administration-pull-back-police-department-civil-n726826 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ag-sessions-says-trump-...
- ben_w 8y ago
  False positives vs false negatives. Most crimes are committed by young men, but most young men aren’t criminals. Same thing happened with medical tests for rare conditions — if you have rates of 5% false positive (0% false negative) and 1% criminality rate, then ~84% of those you shake up are innocent.
- jimnotgym 8y ago
  Tell me exactly what you mean by demographics? Scooter crime seems to be committed by men under 30, are you talking age-related profiling? So shake-down a couple of million people and you will probably find the evidence you want?
- GyYZTfWBfQw 8y ago
  It's cheap and efficient to wear a mask, where it is the taxpayer's money being wasted on facial recognition systems, and on top of that: cameras don't prevent, and are not even being used to prosecute criminals, there are not enough resources to do that, as someone else already pointed it out: > You only have to look at the widespread increase in CCTV use in Britain. Now when you get mugged in London the police can get you a little video of your hooded attackers for posterity. Except they only have time to go through the recordings if you got murdered, otherwise you will just get a crime number. But hey, have fun with illusion of safety, deprived freedom and a complete waste of money.

IshKebab 8y ago

Three in the past year? That's insanely unlucky. Do you carry baskets of iPhones around council estates?

cpmouter 8y ago

Unless moped crime performed by guys with balaclavas is 100% of all the crime that occurs in London, your comment is pointless. There's a way to attack this crime while reducing the number of policemen, and it's to attack the demographics of it, but of course that will get you called names :-)

fao_ 8y ago
How is attacking the demographics of crime working for America, and the other countries that do that? As far as I understand, the efficacy of profiling is extremely poor
- 18pfsmt 8y ago
  Thankfully, racial-profiling is against the law in the US. Unfortunately, some involved in law enforcement do it anyway (sometimes unintentionally), and when they are caught they are disciplined.
  - forapurpose 8y ago
    > when they are caught they are disciplined Under Trump and Attorney General Sessions, the Department of Justice said they were shutting down investigations of police departments for civil rights issues. (I don't remember the exact details.)
    - jakelazaroff 8y ago
      Not sure why parent is getting downvoted; this is a thing that's actually happening. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ag-sessions-says-trump-administration-pull-back-police-department-civil-n726826 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ag-sessions-says-trump-...
ben_w 8y ago
False positives vs false negatives. Most crimes are committed by young men, but most young men aren’t criminals. Same thing happened with medical tests for rare conditions — if you have rates of 5% false positive (0% false negative) and 1% criminality rate, then ~84% of those you shake up are innocent.
jimnotgym 8y ago
Tell me exactly what you mean by demographics? Scooter crime seems to be committed by men under 30, are you talking age-related profiling? So shake-down a couple of million people and you will probably find the evidence you want?
GyYZTfWBfQw 8y ago
It's cheap and efficient to wear a mask, where it is the taxpayer's money being wasted on facial recognition systems, and on top of that: cameras don't prevent, and are not even being used to prosecute criminals, there are not enough resources to do that, as someone else already pointed it out: > You only have to look at the widespread increase in CCTV use in Britain. Now when you get mugged in London the police can get you a little video of your hooded attackers for posterity. Except they only have time to go through the recordings if you got murdered, otherwise you will just get a crime number. But hey, have fun with illusion of safety, deprived freedom and a complete waste of money.