Big Data Surveillance: The Case of Policing

This article examines the intersection of two structural developments: the growth of surveillance and the rise of "big data." Drawing on observations and interviews conducted within the Los Angeles Police Department, I offer an empirical account of how the adoption of big data analytics does-and does not-transform police surveillance practices. I argue that the adoption of big data analytics facilitates amplifications of prior surveillance practices and fundamental transformations in surveillance activities. First, discretionary assessments of risk are supplemented and quantified using risk scores. Second, data are used for predictive, rather than reactive or explanatory, purposes. Third, the proliferation of…

• MR
  Microsoft Research
• UO
  University of Texas at Austin

  Awards: R24 HD042849, 5 R24 HD042849
• HF
  Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy
• NI
  National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

  Awards: 5 R24 HD042849, R24 HD042849, HD042849
• EK
  Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

  Awards: 5 R24 HD042849, R24 HD042849