Racial Bias in Georgetown Digital Crime Prevention? Report

A mass-messaging application being used by Georgetown merchants and police may be racially profiling area shoppers, according to critics of the technology, an investigative story published last week by The Georgetowner reports.

The news article notes that store employees — on the lookout for shoplifters — are messaging each other with photos of shoppers they deem suspicious, and many of those people are African American, the news story says.

The technology being used is a Microsoft-owned mass-messaging application called GroupMe which the Georgetown Business Improvement District began using to bolster communication between local businesses and Metropolitan Police Department officers, The Georgetowner reports.

To read the entire investigative report by Peter Murray, visit The Georgetowner.