Minority Report

Fans of science fiction are well aware of the dark writings of Philip K. Dick. A number of his short stories and novels have been made into movies from Blade Runner, based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep to Total Recall, based on We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. More recently, of course, the movie Minority Report was released. Philip K. Dick never considered himself a novelist, but rather thought of himself as a philosopher who used fiction as a tool. He's been dead for some 24 years now but would recognize the world today all too well.

For the British have just formed a "Future Crimes" division.

LONDON (AFP) - British criminal psychologists are putting together a list of the 100 most dangerous murderers and rapists before they have committed any such crimes.

Experts from London's Metropolitan Police's Homicide Prevention Unit are creating psychological profiles of likely offenders which will enable them to predict future patterns of behaviour. Statements from former partners, mental health workers and any previous complaints are used to compile the profiles which would identify those most likely to commit serious violent crimes.

The team is currently focussing on individuals who could turn from domestic violence to murder, based on data that shows that about 25 percent of all murders are related to domestic violence, the newspaper said.

"My vision is that we know across London who the top 100 people are," said Laura Richards, a senior criminal psychologist with the Homicide Prevention Unit said Monday.

"It is trying to pick up (murderer) Ian Huntley before he goes out and commits that murder. Then we have the opportunity to stop something turning into a lethal event," she added.

Pilot projects to target high-risk future offenders have been operating in five London boroughs for about two months.

Once an individual has been targeted, police can decide whether to make moves towards an arrest, though The Times newspaper did not specify on what grounds this could occur, or they could alert relevant social services.

Yeah, Dick would recognize it all right. He tried to warn us, didn't he? A wonderful website for all things Philip K. Dick can be found here.