This “insidious” police tech claims to predict crime (Lock and Code S06E18)

Posted: September 8, 2025 by Malwarebytes Labs, the latest Lock and Code episode revisits a Florida project that aimed to predict crime. In Pasco County, the Sheriff's Department piloted an Intelligence-Led Policing programme that allegedly analysed disparate data to identify would-be criminals, yet the account notes it sometimes made criminals out of ordinary people, including high schoolers.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that residents were subjected to night-time raids, tickets for minor infractions, and repeated visits that left families humiliated, with one former deputy describing the directive as “Make their lives miserable until they move or sue.” Police and sheriff’s departments across the US have used such systems to feed data into models intended to predict where and when to deploy units, often reinforcing the algorithm with trivial offences.

The episode features Emily Galvin-Almanza of Partners for Justice and discusses the potential harms when police rely on data and predictive policing, rather than human decision-making. According to The Tampa Bay Times.