IO Error has a hard-to-believe-but-it-seems-to-be-true post about the use of computers to predict and prevent crime – an idea straight out of Minority Report. From Live Science:
According to the computer’s analysis, there would be a robbery between 8 p.m. and midnight on Wednesday on South Broadway.
“He predicted it and he was right,†Police Commissioner Robert Taggart said.
Anthony Jimenez, 17, of Gastonia, N.C., and Richard Pino, 20, of 108 Highland Ave., Yonkers, were arrested and two guns confiscated after a 25 year old woman was robbed of her cell phone at 8:44 p.m. Wednesday at South Broadway and Ludlow Street, police said. They were charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree criminal use of a firearm, both felonies.
The post notes that the police watched the area, and were able to respond and arrest, on the basis of the prediction.
IO Error also links to other resources on the story.