A data lake of crime

Woof. I was just speculating in conversation yesterday evening about this issue. In an environment where cell phone cameras and video are near universal, where social media inhibitions have been crumbling and the rise of social subsets where videotape of committing crimes is a badge of honor, how would the police manage the tremendous volume of evidence against the large number of criminals?

In the past week, day after day, we see videos of people assaulting others, destroying property and looting. Many of the criminals are masked but there are plenty unmasked. Even those who are masked often have plenty of identifying elements - tattoos, distinct hair styles, piercings, even clothing. They are not anonymous to a circle of friends.

I was wondering in that conversation whether anyone was capturing the hundreds of videos which go viral or the thousands which are as horrific but which never break through. We want no surveillance state but when criminals are sharing their crimes, surely we can and should be using the brute horsepower of IT and AI to capture the perpetrators of these murders and assaults.

But if you did do that efficiently and effectively, all of a sudden we are going to have tens of thousands of cases or more which would represent a massive backlog to be processed. But rule of law demands no less. If law becomes optional, then we are on a short road to calamity.

I don't have an answer whether anyone is collecting these videos systematically, but someone is capturing some of them.

From That Was the Riot That Was. Click on the link to see a list of ninety hot-links of the more horrific acts of murder, assault, mayhem, pillage and rioting.

If inclined, best to watch in small increments as the casual evil is so enraging. To see so many die, suffer serious wounds, or see their life's work going up in flames as they face bankruptcy and impoverishment stirs the heart. Especially when the establishment politicians and mainstream media try and brush all the rioting and violence away as justifiable anger which just needs to be allowed to burn itself out.

If political leaders cannot be trusted to protect the citizens by whom they are elected, or casually pick and choose only select interests to protect, then it is time for them to go.