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Book review: K Frailing and DW Harper, Toward a Criminology of Disaster: What We Know and What We Need to Find Out

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
DOI10.1177/1362480618786284
Date01 February 2019
Published date01 February 2019
AuthorHoward Davis
Subject MatterBook reviews
/tmp/tmp-17QX6Tin3ypKiG/input Book reviews
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of thinking about the possible uses of big data: blue data and bright data. “Blue data”
(p. 143) is basically a proposal for police departments to use the data-driven tools to
help police the police, to use data inward instead of outward: big data to control police
violence and improve policing as a community service besides the use of big data to
control and prevent crime (p. 144). On the other hand, “bright data” (p. 167) stands
upon the idea that policing should not always be the remedy to reduce risk. Big data
could be used to display social needs instead of crime activities, and those needs
could be faced by non-punitive methods and institutions other than police. In this
way, the author explains that data-driven tools could be used to target those individu-
als most in need of social assistance, and match them with specific social services.
The last chapter gives us a quick overview about another unsettling factor that creates
distortions on the inputs of the system: the “data holes” (p. 177) produced primarily (but
not exclusively) by the lack of data associated with class and poverty in such a way that
while consumer data undercount people without significant incomes, crime data under-
count certain types of crime and certain places.
The Rise of Big Data succeeds as a basic, yet comprehensive, introduction to some
relevant topics in a growing field. Through several examples and straightforward argu-
ments, it provides an accessible description of how big data impact policing practices
and warns about the associated dangers and distorting effects of data-driven policing.
While this approach makes for an easy introduction to these ideas to policy makers, advi-
sors, and those interested in law enforcement reform and policing strategies, it also
reduces the extent of its theoretical contribution and overlooks current debates on rele-
vant issues, such as the threats to data protection and personal information. Overall, the
book...

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