Department of Precrime
The Department of PreCrime , or known simply as PreCrime , is a government agency under the United States Department of Justice utilizing the Precogs to “visualize” crimes by receiving visions of the future. In Philip K. Dick’s 1956 short story “The Minority Report,” the Department of Precrime detects crimes before they occur, and imprisons the (pre)perpetrators. The story pits this organization against its own leader, sewing doubt as to its efficiency and justice. By the end, however, it is vindicated and will continue in the hands of a capable new leader. Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film version of this novella, Minority Report, stays close to the original on many points, but ends with the Precrime system’s being dismantled.
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From stores to bill-boards to the entrance to the subway, biometric scanners are ubiquitous. In addition Washington in 2054 has implemented a Department of Pre-crime. Relying on the superpowers of three precognitives capable of visualizing future murders, the city has become nearly crime-free.
John Anderton is the head of Precrime, the unit responsible for responding to the precognitives’ visions and stopping murders before they occur. As Anderton explains the precogs to a detective, Witwer, who has come to investigate the workings of the Department of PreCrime before the D.C. – wide program becomes a national program , ” It’s best not to think of them as human.”
Is the future preordained or does man create his own destiny? The Precogs are never wrong. But, occasionally… they do disagree.
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