Comments on: The Case for Public Intelligence http://www.nationofneighbors.com/news/neighborhood-watch/the-case-for-public-intelligence/ Realtime Collaborative Neighborhood Watch and Reporting Tue, 31 May 2011 17:31:50 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Art http://www.nationofneighbors.com/news/neighborhood-watch/the-case-for-public-intelligence/comment-page-1/#comment-144 Art Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:27:36 +0000 http://www.nationofneighbors.com/news/?p=143#comment-144 Richard, thanks very much for your comment. The point isn't to form a lynch mob - or even pass judgment. If the woman in our example is lost, the report will quickly be forgotten. However, in the rare case that there happened to be a robbery at a house further down the street that same evening, there is a little more information for the police trying to solve the case. In an ideal world, the filter scenario you describe might work. Unfortunately, the system works far to slowly to be of practical use in most neighborhoods. The fact is that police respond to crime but, by working together and sharing information, neighborhoods can sometimes help prevent crime. Again, we're not encouraging people to become vigilantes. We're trying to help neighbors share information with each other and police that would otherwise go unreported. Richard, thanks very much for your comment.

The point isn’t to form a lynch mob – or even pass judgment. If the woman in our example is lost, the report will quickly be forgotten. However, in the rare case that there happened to be a robbery at a house further down the street that same evening, there is a little more information for the police trying to solve the case.

In an ideal world, the filter scenario you describe might work. Unfortunately, the system works far to slowly to be of practical use in most neighborhoods. The fact is that police respond to crime but, by working together and sharing information, neighborhoods can sometimes help prevent crime.

Again, we’re not encouraging people to become vigilantes. We’re trying to help neighbors share information with each other and police that would otherwise go unreported.

]]> By: Richard http://www.nationofneighbors.com/news/neighborhood-watch/the-case-for-public-intelligence/comment-page-1/#comment-112 Richard Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:35:26 +0000 http://www.nationofneighbors.com/news/?p=143#comment-112 Surely this only works if everybody is guilty. That's the other reason law enforcement agencies keep things to themselves. Intelligence, effectively, is information that has not yet been tested to be true, ie through prosecution. It may be good information, of sufficient standard that it can be acted on and tested, or it may not. The public, especially the INVESTED public (the person who just watched somebody drive slowly by) are not the best people to make that judgement, because they have a narrow view of the event, and can be prejudiced by local conditions. By reporting it, you hand it to an agency who can filter it, cross reference it against other information, add value to it and test its credibility. That woman driving slowly by might just have been lost, after all. A lynch mob is probably not going to help her get to her destination, and the public are notorious for jumping to conclusions. Surely this only works if everybody is guilty. That’s the other reason law enforcement agencies keep things to themselves. Intelligence, effectively, is information that has not yet been tested to be true, ie through prosecution. It may be good information, of sufficient standard that it can be acted on and tested, or it may not. The public, especially the INVESTED public (the person who just watched somebody drive slowly by) are not the best people to make that judgement, because they have a narrow view of the event, and can be prejudiced by local conditions. By reporting it, you hand it to an agency who can filter it, cross reference it against other information, add value to it and test its credibility.

That woman driving slowly by might just have been lost, after all. A lynch mob is probably not going to help her get to her destination, and the public are notorious for jumping to conclusions.

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