We need debate on data-driven policing

‘A wider public debate needs to be informed by research into how effectively the use of people’s data predicts and reduces criminality.’ Photograph: Joe Giddens/PAWe thank West Midlands police’s ethics committee for giving serious attention to the potential for harm arising out of data-driven offending prediction models (Alert over risk of bias in tool to predict who will reoffend, 20 April).A wider public debate needs to be informed by research into how effectively the u