He invited them into this home. And when he did, they told McDaniel something he could hardly believe: an algorithm built by the Chicago Police Department predicted — based on his proximity to and relationships with known shooters and shooting casualties — that McDaniel would be involved in a shooting. That he would be a “party to violence,” but it wasn’t clear what side of the barrel he might be on. He could be the shooter, he might get shot. They didn’t know. But the data said he was at risk either way. [More]
You never invite a vampire to cross your threshold.
And for heaven's sake, don't talk to them.
[Via Remarks]
Note that the presence of a social worker did not magically improve the outcome.
ReplyDelete"McDaniel would be involved in a shooting. That he would be a “party to violence,” but it wasn’t clear what side of the barrel he might be on. He could be the shooter, he might get shot. They didn’t know."
ReplyDelete"On Person of Interest, the ... whole premise of the series was that the Machine gave social security numbers to Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) and and each number would help them identify either the victim or the perpetrator, but never both.
Developed by Finch in response to 9/11, the Machine was a highly advanced A.I. designed to assist the United States government with stopping crimes before they happened. The Machine accomplished this by spying on everyone. By listening to phone calls, examining surveillance footage, and more, the Machine was able to gather the information it needed to come to a conclusion. The point of it was to detect terrorist attacks, but it worked so well that it pinpointed ordinary, everyday crimes as well."
I would say you can't write this stuff, but... somebody did write this stuff. To the point where this sounds a lot like an "Abscam sting" story.