Lately, many Americans have said the country’s surveillance has become more prevalent, with Flock cameras and other devices making some citizens feel constantly watched. Well, that might become even worse if the recent information is true. Apparently, the DHS, mainly the Border Patrol, is allegedly using “predictive policing,” as it is called right now, to analyze your financial habits. This could lead to police officers pulling you over, even if you haven’t committed any sort of crime.
The original report comes from 404Media, which says that the Border Patrol is allegedly using a new “predictive policing” tool to look at your financial habits. According to the above report, it also says that these teams operate under the name of Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams, or PITT for short.
They also provided an example of how this predictive policing works. Apparently, PITT stopped a man from Montana, whom they believed had an obstructed license plate, but charged him with a DUI.
The report also mentions how some PITT sectors are allegedly already in areas of the country, with some in Washington and Texas. The former is looking over the US-Canada border, and the latter is looking at the US-Mexico border.
As you can imagine, this news caused a negative impact on many Americans because, if true, surveillance has gone too far. Previously, people were already worried about Flock cameras, with some prevalent subreddits already taking an anti-Flock stance. Yet, some are already starting to compare the possible PITT situation to some other fictional situations that make it seem as if America were something a bit more dystopian.
Americans Think Surveillance Has Gone Too Far
Many citizens criticized the PITT teams, as “predictive policing” seems extremely invasive, to the point that some are comparing it to some cyberpunk films.
“Remember when Minority Report was fiction?“
Others believe that there might be a few things behind these new policing tactics, with some even claiming that it could be tied to the alleged arrest requirements of some authorities or worse.
“Predictive policing sounds a lot like a way to hide unlawful profiling and unauthorized surveillance.“
“DOJ has supposedly given them insane arrest numbers to hit; that’s why. Like 50k a month.“
In the end, many are already panicking over this because if this is true, they believe some police officers will start pulling more people over without cause. Yet many also wonder how far this will go, or whether it will reach other places in the country besides the two mentioned above.
