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Police software raises concerns [Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn. :: ]
[August 29, 2014]

Police software raises concerns [Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn. :: ]


(Post-Bulletin (Rochester, MN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 29--Some Rochester residents on Thursday said they're worried about all the data about people that the Rochester Police Department will be using as part of its new crime-solving software.



A town hall meeting was held at the Government Center to discuss the implementation of two new technology programs: Identity Insight, which started in 2012, and SPSS (statistical package for the social sciences), which could start by the end of the year.

To oversee the use of the technology, a Police Oversight Commission is being formed.


"Just listening to it is very disturbing because there are some concerns about privacy issues, some concerns about community reactions and there are just too many questions," said Deborah Delgado, of Rochester. "This (town hall) did not set me at ease at all, not at all, and I'm really concerned that there are going to be a lot of young people monitored and tracked and profiled." The Council on Black Minnesotans and the Rochester branch of the NAACP have worked to gather and disseminate information about the software and the pending structuring of the Police Oversight Commission. Many members of those two groups were at Thursday night's meeting.

Identity Insight, or i2, was approved in 2011 and started in 2012. Peterson said crimes in Rochester fell 9 percent in the 12 months after Identify Insight was implemented. However, crime has fallen each year for the past 15.

With Identity Insight, every 10 seconds, i2 scans the local dispatch system to look for any new information entered -- things such as license plate numbers, names or addresses discovered from a traffic stop or other contact -- and searches for associations with data already on hand.

Any information accessed comes only from what the local department already has documented, as well as from the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office, outstanding warrants databases, parole databases and public utility records.

After two years of using Identity Insight, Peterson said the Rochester Police Department is ready for implementation of SPSS. Peterson said Identity Insight is the who and what, and SPSS will be the when and where.

Many people in the audience of about 20 people had concerns with the police having too much information. Delgado asked Peterson about the possibility of a police officer being more aggressive if he or she knew about a person's criminal past while approaching them.

She said she doesn't want Rochester to experience an incident similar to what happened in Ferguson, Mo., when Michael Brown, an unarmed black man was shot and killed on Aug. 9. Delgado said she wants to know what training will be made available to make sure police officers are using the technology properly.

"I don't know if I could ever tell you we have the perfect training program; you don't have to worry about it. We're still dealing with people," Peterson said. "The more information we have, the more reliable information we have, obviously, the better decisions we will be making. Obviously, that's a critical aspect of the technology. That makes us better, in and of itself." Peterson said, by a very wide margin, use of force by a police officer, critical incidents of force by a police officer or an officer shooting happens because of a lack of information, not too much information.

Peterson added that Delgado's concerns are valid and said the Police Oversight Commission ordinance has provisions to identify areas of training in regards to police procedure and policy.

"I don't think we can contemplate all the different areas or kinds of training that implementation of new technology would require," Peterson said. "I think it makes it that much more important to make sure there is a mechanism to identify it and react to it when it does. It's a concern of ours, and no one wants to see (the situation in Ferguson) repeated anywhere, particularly here." After listening to Peterson and others during the two-hour town hall, Delgado said she still has major concerns over intelligence-led policing.

Jackie Johnson said after the town hall that she believes many people in Thursday's audience still have more questions.

"I think people still want more information," she said. "I know this was just presenting what they were working on, but we need to know the specifics. There were a lot of questions about data. Who's going to be in it? How are you going to put the data in it? We're just concerned as a community as to how this is going to work out." Peterson said during the meeting that no current or former city employees, which includes law enforcement officers, will be on the Police Oversight Commission. Once SPSS is implemented, the oversight commission will begin meeting, likely on a monthly basis.

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