PhD Student Develops Algorithm to Track Cartels

Tracks the "modus operandi" of criminal gangs

A Mexican working on her PhD at Harvard University's Department of Government has developed an algorithm that uses Google's search engine to track the activity, movement and "modus operandi" of drug cartels in her homeland.

Viridiana Rios, who was assisted on the project by Michele Coscia, a fellow at Google and the Harvard Kennedy School's Center for International Development, told Efe that the automated search algorithm allows them to conduct mass searches on criminal gangs in Google's news aggregator.