“Pick The Perp” Game Allows You To Racially Profile, Just Like Real Cops!

We’ve already let you know about the NYPD’s new policy of handing out 3 x 5 inch cards informing people why they are being stopped and frisked, but did you know you could do something similar from the comfort of your own computer? It’s true!

“Pick The Perp” allows people to guess which of five people presented in mug shots (or Sears photo center Christmas photographs gone horribly awry) committed a specific crime. How fun is that? It’s almost like browsing through a family album. 

Check out some examples:

Doctor shopping:  refers to the practice of a patient requesting care from multiple physicians, often simultaneously, without making efforts to coordinate care or informing the physicians of the multiple caregivers.

In other words, who is abusing the system to get prescription pills? Give up? It’s the lady in the center, the one who should have been out shopping for hair dye instead.

The interesting thing about this game is that most of the perps who are actually guilty of the crime in question tend to appear to be white, as opposed to black or “Latino-looking.” We’re not sure if that’s intentional on the part of whoever designed this site, but we kind of… appreciate it? Maybe?

At any rate, the game provides in an interesting exercise in determining the people you think are not only more likely to commit a crime, but to commit specific crimes. For example, how would you describe the profile of a person more likely to commit tax fraud rather than sell drugs rather than shoplift? This site allows people to come face to face, literally, with the stereotypes they hold.