Anticipating where crime happens: Seattle rolls out ‘Predictive Policing’ across city

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Back in February, Seattle rolled out a new “Predictive Policing” software in the East and Southwest Precincts, hoping to keep the city safe by using data that better predicts where crime may happen. Now, after “anecdotal success” with the software so far, it’s being expanded across all five precincts in the city, Mayor Mike McGinn announced yesterday at a press conference…. Read More…

Seattle rolling out ‘Predictive Policing’ software to anticipate where crime happens

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The Seattle Police Department is hoping to keep the city safe by using data that better predicts where crime may happen. Mayor Mike McGinn announced today that on Sunday the city rolled out a “Predictive Policing” software in the East and Southwest Precincts. The software inputs historical crime data from 2008 into an algorithm that predicts where and… Read More…

Holiday heist: Grinches steal 7,000 Wii U consoles from SeaTac airport warehouse

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This could be the holiday heist of the decade. A band thieves broke into a warehouse at Seattle Air Cargo last Saturday night, loaded up two semi trucks with about 7,000 brand new Wii U gaming consoles, and then drove off, according to ABC News. Those game consoles are worth about $2 million in total, a… Read More…

A police scanner for the Twitter generation: Seattle PD introduces ‘Tweets by Beat’

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Whenever there’s a disturbance in my Seattle neighborhood, I fire up the online police scanner or visit the hyperlocal news blog MyBallard.com to pinpoint what’s going on. But now I’ve got another option: Cruising over to Twitter. The Seattle Police Department has introduced 51 new Twitter accounts for precincts throughout the city where everyday citizens can peruse… Read More…

Police arrest suspect wanted in killing of Zillow engineer

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An arrest has been made in the fatal shooting of Seattle software developer Justin Ferrari, a Zillow employee who was struck by a stray bullet in Seattle’s Central District on May 24th. Homicide detectives arrested a 20-year-old man at a Federal Way home today who they suspect opened fire on Cherry Street near Martin Luther… Read More…

As violence rises in Seattle, city considers acoustic sensors to pinpoint gunshots

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Could a high-tech solution help solve Seattle’s rising gun violence problem? On Thursday, The City of Seattle’s Public Safety Committee plans to discuss the possibilities of installing ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection system that uses acoustic sensors and software to triangulate where shots were fired. Meanwhile, an accompanying video surveillance system can be used to capture images of… Read More…

Ex-Microsoft worker going to jail for 33 months for fraud

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Robert Curry, a 41-year-old former Microsoft manager, has been sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $459,341 in restitution for engaging in a scheme to defraud the software giant. The Seattle resident also was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Here’s more on the scheme that Curry concocted from the U.S…. Read More…

Seattle trio accused of crazy high-tech crime spree

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A federal grand jury indictment announced today against three Seattle men reads like the plot for a high-tech crime novel — accusing them of hacking into wireless networks using long-range antennas on a specially equipped vehicle, using lost and stolen laptops to gain access to corporate networks, burglarizing businesses to upload password-stealing malware, using that… Read More…

Twitter firehose from Seattle police makes point, loses followers

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The Seattle Police Department is catching a ton of grief for transforming its Twitter feed from a selective news channel into an overactive police scanner — flooding its followers for 12 hours yesterday with tweets about 911 calls. The goal was to raise awareness for next week’s “Night Out Against Crime,” explained police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb on… Read More…