Press Call Wednesday: Civil Rights and Tech Advocates Sound Alarm on Racial Bias in “Predictive Policing”

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, August 31 at 10:00 a.m. ET, a broad coalition of civil rights, privacy, and technology organizations will issue a sweeping rebuke to the use and misuse of predictive policing products by police departments and the technology and policy firm Upturn will release a report on the topic.

The 17 organizations will release a shared statement of civil rights concerns about the systemic flaws, inherent bias, and lack of transparency endemic to predictive policing products and their vendors.

On that call, the technology and policy firm Upturn will release a report that finds “a trend of rapid, poorly informed adoption” of predictive policing, with “pervasive, fundamental gaps in what’s publicly known” about how these systems work. 

To receive an embargoed copy of the shared statement of civil rights concerns and a draft of the report, email [email protected].

WHEN: Wednesday, August 31 at 10:00 a.m. ET

WHO:

·         Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

·         David Robinson, principal at Upturn

·         Malkia Cyril, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Media Justice (CMJ)

·         Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change

·         Ezekiel Edwards, director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the ACLU

DIAL-IN INFORMATION: Dial-in: 888-632-3382. Verbal Passcode: “Predict.” RSVP to [email protected] to request an embargoed copy of the materials for the call.

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