Ross Wilkers
A team of Praescient Analytics researchers collaborated with a university research center during the week leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl to study sex and drug trafficking in New Jersey and New York, Bloomberg reported Jan. 31.
Michael Riley writes the company’s team worked to collect Internet data on telephone numbers and coded language used by traffickers, aiming to bring its experience in areas such as terrorism.
Riley reports Praescient analysts sought to map where prostitutes were deployed before and after the game, which hotels they were at and potential links between groups of traffickers and techniques.
Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research hired Praescient to help with the effort through funding from the McCain Institute in Washington, Riley reports.
Alexandria, Va.-based Praescient used a data analytics platform built by Palantir Technologies and Praescient CEO Katie Crotty discovered that tool after concluding her career as a military intelligence officer, according to the report.
The ASU office plans to study the data from this year’s Super Bowl for work to continue the project at next year’s game in Glendale, Ariz., Bloomberg reports.
