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The Serial-Killer Detector (2017)

newyorker.com

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Re: The Serial-Killer Detector (2017)

#4

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew »

Note that he’s running this as a rather young retiree of 60 years, and is limited by the lack of corporate resources exposing him to possible lawsuits.

The news business still works well enough for this excellent article in the New Yorker to tell us of an instance where it stopped working. Right now, we still get a glimpse of what is being destroyed. Soon, the idea of someone having the freedom to devote a year’s work to an unproven method of investigation will be lost to history.

Re: The Serial-Killer Detector (2017)

#5

Post by mirimir »

Haga wrote: post #3

The improve crime solved statistics by implying correlation equals causation. How does the total percentage of serial anything compare to other countries.

Not at all. He's just identifying suspicious clusters of unsolved murders. He's not even identifying suspects. That's up to the police, mainly using standard methods.

So I really have no clue why he says:

> Hargrove is pleased about the investigation but he also worries that something may go awry. “What if they arrest the wrong guy, and he sues?” he asked.

Why would they sue him? I mean, his not-for-profit has ~no money. And I doubt that he's wealthy. It'd make more sense to sue the police.

Re: The Serial-Killer Detector (2017)

#6

Post by hey_guy »

mirimir wrote: post #5
Haga wrote: post #3

The improve crime solved statistics by implying correlation equals causation. How does the total percentage of serial anything compare to other countries.

Not at all. He's just identifying suspicious clusters of unsolved murders. He's not even identifying suspects. That's up to the police, mainly using standard methods. So I really have no clue why he says: > Hargrove is pleased about the investigation but he also worries that something may go awry. “What if they arrest the wrong guy, and he sues?” he asked. Why would they sue him? I mean, his not-for-profit has ~no mo…

It is very nearly impossible to sue police departments, even when they kill people. It’s not the same as going after a wrongful citizen’s arrest. Police have greater protections against malpractice, as a rule.

To sue the non-profit makes much more sense, because the non-profit can be punished with injunctions, or even dissolved and prevented from operating.

Re: The Serial-Killer Detector (2017)

#7

Post by PakG1 »

mirimir wrote: post #5
Haga wrote: post #3

The improve crime solved statistics by implying correlation equals causation. How does the total percentage of serial anything compare to other countries.

Not at all. He's just identifying suspicious clusters of unsolved murders. He's not even identifying suspects. That's up to the police, mainly using standard methods. So I really have no clue why he says: > Hargrove is pleased about the investigation but he also worries that something may go awry. “What if they arrest the wrong guy, and he sues?” he asked. Why would they sue him? I mean, his not-for-profit has ~no mo…

People have sued the wrong person and lost plenty of times. He probably wouldn't lose if he got sued, but even if he won, the trouble might be more than he wants to handle. And if he does lose, well, that would really suck, and that's not impossible either.

Re: The Serial-Killer Detector (2017)

#9

Post by 14 »

IfOnlyYouKnew wrote: post #4

Note that he’s running this as a rather young retiree of 60 years, and is limited by the lack of corporate resources exposing him to possible lawsuits. The news business still works well enough for this excellent article in the New Yorker to tell us of an instance where it stopped working. Right now, we still get a glimpse of what is being destroyed. Soon, the idea of someone having the freedom to devote a year’s wor…

I found that part rather impressive as well that he got one year to do this. I immediately said to myself he must make 50k or more a year and his boss let him do that so how much will this story make them or what is the motive in allowing such freedom. Cool. But I have the opposite feeling about the future. I think the age of robots is coming and we will be swamped with nothing to do. People may start doing what they are passionate about and this seems like something others may get on board.

Re: The Serial-Killer Detector (2017)

#10

Post by triplee »

Someone sent me this a few weeks ago, and I've been playing with loading his datasets into a graph database. It's kind of a mess of CSV and some column formatted files, but it's a fun process.

Will share if I make something of it.

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