On Tuesday April 2nd, 2019, twenty-eight Professors and forty Graduate students of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) sent a letter to the Los Angeles Police Commission to expose and reject the work of Jeff Brantingham, a UCLA Professor who co-created the predictive policing algorithm and tactic marketed as Predpol. The letter states that Jeff Brantingham’s scholarship “represents some of the most troubling legacies of the discipline of anthropology and of social science more generally..”

The letter was as follows:

April 2, 2019

Dear Los Angeles Police Commission,

We are writing to you in response to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore’s references to the

academic support for the LAPD’s Predictive Policing and LASER programs. As UCLA faculty members and

graduate students in the department of Anthropology and in other departments, we are writing to clarify the extent of this support. Despite our reluctance to weigh in on this public debate, we feel compelled to respond to Chief Moore’s comments.

Our colleague Jeffrey Brantingham, an archaeological anthropologist, has conducted research on crime

modeling and predictive policing. He also co-founded Predpol, which was formed in collaboration with LAPD Deputy Chief Sean Malinowski and has, in the past, been contracted by the LAPD to administer its predictive policing program. Professor Brantingham and his co-researchers have drawn on the discipline

of anthropology to support their claims about the efficacy of predictive policing.

However, to the extent that Professor Brantingham and his UCLA colleagues represent an academic

stamp of approval of predictive policing and other algorithm based methods for Chief Moore, we wish to

make it very clear: there is not universal agreement or acceptance of the empirical merit and the ethics of their research at UCLA in anthropology as a discipline or in other disciplines.

On the contrary, many anthropologists and other scholars who read his scholarship believe it represents

some of the most troubling legacies of the discipline of anthropology and of social science more

generally. Among our concerns, which we can share in more detail, are (1) whether the research meets

the ethical obligation outlined in our anthropological code of ethics to ensure our research does not

harm our research subjects and (2) how the quantitative approach of the research naturalizes policies and practices that have had disparate impacts on Black and Brown communities.

Academics' concerns about predictive policing and Predpol in particular are not limited to anthropology.

Scholars in law, such as Columbia Professor Bernard Harcourt, math and data science, such as the Harvard-trained mathematician Cathy O’Neill, have also expressed their serious skepticism about the

empirical and ethical rigor of this research.

If the Los Angeles Police Commission is interested in the position of the academy, and UCLA

anthropology in particular, on Predpol and predictive policing, we say plainly and adamantly: this research does not have our universal support.

Signed,

Leisy Abrego, Associate Professor in Chicana and Chicano Studies



Tendayi Achiume, Assistant Professor of Law



Hannah Appel, Assistant Professor in Anthropology



Joseph Berra, Clinical Projector Director at the School of Law



Maylei Blackwell, Associate Professor in Chicana and Chicano Studies

Philippe Bourgois, Professor in Anthropology



Keith L. Camacho, Associate Professor in Asian American Studies



Genevieve Carpio, Assistant Professor in Chicana and Chicano Studies



Michelle Caswell, Associate Professor in Information Studies



Jessica Cattelino, Associate Professor in Anthropology Chandra Ford, Associate Professor in Community Health Sciences



Sarah Haley, Associate Professor in Gender Studies and African American Studies



Cheryl I. Harris, Professor of Law



Laurie Hart, Professor in Anthropology



Grace Hong, Professor in Asian American Studies and Gender Studies



Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor of History



Rachel Lee, Professor in English and Gender Studies



Safiya Umoja Noble, Associate Professor in Information Studies and African American Studies



Sherry B. Ortner, Distinguished Professor Emerita in Anthropology



Sunita Patel, Assistant Professor of Law



Jemima Pierre, Associate Professor in African American Studies and Anthropology



Miriam Posner, Assistant Professor in Information Studies



Sarah T. Roberts, Assistant Professor in Information Studies



Ananya Roy, Professor in Urban Planning and Social Work



Eric Sheppard, Professor in Geography



Shannon Speed, Associate Professor in Anthropology and Director of the American Indian Studies Center



Timothy D. Taylor, Professor in Ethnomusicology



Noah Zatz, Professor of Law



Izem Aral, PhD Student in Anthropology



Megan Baker, PhD Student in Anthropology



Adam Barsch, Masters in Public Policy Student



Jess Bendit, Masters in Public Policy Student



Molly Bloom, PhD Student in Anthropology



Rosie Brown, JD/Masters in Public Policy Student



Kerry Browne, Masters in Public Policy Student



Burcu Bugu, PhD Student in Anthropology



Bradley Cardozo, PhD Student in Anthropology



David Clingman, JD Student



Casey Dalager, Masters in Public Policy Student



Addison Dickens, PhD Student in Anthropology



Matthew Erle, JD Student



Emma Hulse, JD Student



James Huynh, MPH/ Masters Student in Asian American Studies



Sucharita Kanjilal, PhD Student in Anthropology



Abby Kerfoot, JD Student



Kelsey Kim, PhD Student in Anthropology



Stacy Lee, JD Student



Jeremy Levenson, MD/PhD Student in Anthropology



Mary Lipscomb, JD Student



Sita Mamidipudi, PhD Student in Anthropology



Nicco La Mattina, PhD Student in Anthropology



Joshua Mayer, PhD Student in Anthropology



Cory Mengual, PhD Student in Sociology



Maria Nava, JD Student



Charlotte Neary-Bremer, PhD Student in Anthropology



Molly Oringer, PhD Student in Anthropology



Stephanie Keeney Parks, PhD Student in Anthropology



Hannah Pollack, JD Student

Sarah Rubinstein, Masters in Public Policy Student

Will Schlesinger, MD/ PhD Student in Anthropology



Alveena Shah, JD Student and Editor-In-Chief of UCLA Law Review



Matthew Simmons, JD Student



Kali Tambree, PhD Student in Sociology



Lauren Textor, MD/ PhD Student in Anthropology



Blanca Trenado, JD Student



Sonni Waknin, JD Student



Ethan Van Buren, JD Student



Brad Zukerman, JD Student