Rob Johnson

What I've been working on lately: Pasco County, FL, used a crude computer algorithm to "predict" who would commit future crimes--and then subjected their families to relentless harassment. They called it "Intelligence Led Policing." This is Robert Jones, one of our clients. His son landed on Pasco's list when he was just sixteen years old. Soon, the Pasco sheriff's office was visiting the family's home multiple times a week and at odd hours of the day, knocking on the doors, and peering into the windows. Deputies found excuses to issue fines for things like tall grass, and they found excuses to arrest Robert--arresting him three times in three months. Robert had never been arrested before. But he was arrested the day after Christmas because officers claimed to see a minor smoking a cigarette through the windows of his home; was arrested a week later for failure to appear for a code citation hearing (even though he did not receive notice of the hearing); and was arrested several months later for alleged possession of marijuana.