SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE USED TO ACCURATELY PREDICT CRIME, SAY RESEARCHERS

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) have developed algorithms that, they claim, can be used to trawl through social media data to predict when and where a crime will occur. Using location data from Foursquare users in Brisbane and New York, the team hopes this will help police better allocate patrols. Trials in Brisbane were 16% more accurate than current crime prediction models.