UK use of predictive policing is racist and should be banned, says Amnesty

Predictive policing involves computer programmes that use data and algorithmic models to estimate where crimes are most likely to happen. Photograph: georgeclerk/Getty Images/iStockphoto

British policing’s use of algorithms and data to predict where crime will happen is racist and picks on the poor, a report from Amnesty International says.

The human rights group says predictive policing tools, used by most police forces in the UK, are so unfair, dangerous and discriminatory that they should be banned.