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redqueen

(115,103 posts)
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 02:47 PM Aug 2014

Georgia Teens Develop App to Document Police Abuse



14-year-old Parkview High School Freshman, Caleb Christian was concerned about the number of incidents of police abuse in the news. Still, he knew there were many good police officers in various communities, but had no way of figuring out which communities were highly rated and which were not. So, together with his two older sisters: Parkview High School senior Ima Christian, and Gwinnett School of Math, Science, and Technology sophomore, Asha Christian, they founded a mobile app development company– Pinetart Inc., under which they created a mobile app called Five-O.

Five-O, allows citizens to enter the details of every interaction with a police officer. It also allows them to rate that officer in terms of courtesy and professionalism and provides the ability to enter a short description of what transpired. These details are captured for every county in the United States. Citizen race and age information data is also captured. Additionally, Five-O allows citizens to store the details of each encounter with law enforcement; this provides convenient access to critical information needed for legal action or commendation.

“We’d like to know which regions in the US provide horrible law enforcement services as well as highlight the agencies that are highly rated by their citizens. In addition to putting more power into the hands of citizens when interacting with law enforcement, we believe that highly rated police departments should be used as models for those that fail at providing quality law enforcement services”, says Co-founder and Parkview High School senior, Ima Christian.

The problem-solving trio developed their love for coding when, as elementary and middle school students, they were exposed to MIT’s k12 Scratch and App Inventor programs. Later, their parents encouraged them to learn JavaScript, HTML, CSS and the smatterings of Java. “We were surprised when we found a platform that enabled us to develop apps for both IOS and Android which was relatively easy to use and which allowed us to hit the ground running because of our knowledge of JavaScript”, said 14 year old Caleb Christian. “After finding a platform that was a good fit for us, we immediately moved on to creating each page for the app and Asha took over the look and feel design of the app. We all contributed to the creation of the product”, he shared.

...

http://www.forharriet.com/2014/08/georgia-teens-develop-app-to-document.html
27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Georgia Teens Develop App to Document Police Abuse (Original Post) redqueen Aug 2014 OP
If those kids charge as little as $1.99 for that app justiceischeap Aug 2014 #1
NO SHIT bigdarryl Aug 2014 #4
My first thought. hifiguy Aug 2014 #17
claims are not truth. depends on how many people lie about specific cops eh? nt msongs Aug 2014 #2
It's a start. And likely to be more accurate than what we now have JimDandy Aug 2014 #5
it could happen NJCher Aug 2014 #10
In a small town, that "form" could make them a target. loudsue Aug 2014 #23
Depts can then look into the claims, rather than the way it is in Ferguson right now, where only sabrina 1 Aug 2014 #13
That stuff tends to wash out with good statistical analysis. Jackpine Radical Aug 2014 #18
Goodmornin', Sunshine :) Schema Thing Aug 2014 #25
OMG. Was just dicussing this same idea with others JimDandy Aug 2014 #3
THAT'S what I'm talking about! ACTION! johnlucas Aug 2014 #6
This made me happy. nt littlemissmartypants Aug 2014 #7
Leave it to the kids to help make America a safer, better place. Rex Aug 2014 #8
Albuquerque, y'all hear this? nt duhneece Aug 2014 #9
HUGE K & R !!! WillyT Aug 2014 #11
What is to prevent local police from rating themselves highly on this ap? McCamy Taylor Aug 2014 #12
It'll go both ways, there's nothing stopping someone who gets a ticket by a polite el_bryanto Aug 2014 #14
Oh, I want one damnedifIknow Aug 2014 #15
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Aug 2014 #16
"TURN OFF YOUR CAMERAS!!!!" Warren DeMontague Aug 2014 #19
Wonderful! blackspade Aug 2014 #20
Necessity is the mother of invention. rug Aug 2014 #21
The Kids Are all Right LloydS of New London Aug 2014 #22
K&R! gademocrat7 Aug 2014 #24
Excellent. Smart kids. nt valerief Aug 2014 #26
K&R. JDPriestly Aug 2014 #27

JimDandy

(7,318 posts)
5. It's a start. And likely to be more accurate than what we now have
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 03:05 PM
Aug 2014

for discovering the number of excessive force interactions. Simply knowing which departments and even individual officers actions are being PERCEIVED as over the top by the public is good to know.

NJCher

(35,748 posts)
10. it could happen
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 03:52 PM
Aug 2014
claims are not truth. depends on how many people lie about specific cops eh? nt

It's a little like "rate my professor.com" where students can threaten their professors and say "If I don't get an "A" or a "B," I'll trash you on ratemyprofessor."

They can and they do.

This, however, seems to be a little more specific. The person has to fill out an information form. That seems to me like it might dissuade people a bit from lying. They would have to lie about an encounter that could be verified by checking with the police records.



Cher

loudsue

(14,087 posts)
23. In a small town, that "form" could make them a target.
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 10:12 PM
Aug 2014

I live in a small town. It wouldn't be pretty.

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
13. Depts can then look into the claims, rather than the way it is in Ferguson right now, where only
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 04:16 PM
Aug 2014

the cop's 'claims' are acceptable. Maybe it will encourage them to use cameras as some have done, which appears to improve the behavior of both citizens and cops.

JimDandy

(7,318 posts)
3. OMG. Was just dicussing this same idea with others
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 02:59 PM
Aug 2014

after the last murder by cop incident. Good for these kids on actually doing sonething so needed!

Huge K and R!!!

 

johnlucas

(1,250 posts)
6. THAT'S what I'm talking about! ACTION!
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 03:19 PM
Aug 2014

Talented kids!!
This story makes my day!

THE FUTURE!
John Lucas

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
8. Leave it to the kids to help make America a safer, better place.
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 03:29 PM
Aug 2014

Hopefully the govt is working diligently on this case.

McCamy Taylor

(19,240 posts)
12. What is to prevent local police from rating themselves highly on this ap?
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 04:10 PM
Aug 2014

Sounds like the anecdotal reports of abuse will be more reliable than the aggregate statistics.

el_bryanto

(11,804 posts)
14. It'll go both ways, there's nothing stopping someone who gets a ticket by a polite
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 04:29 PM
Aug 2014

officer from down rating him either.

It depends on how widespread the app becomes. If it becomes pretty widespread, than the numbers will end up balancing out. If it is not used by very many than the numbers will be suspect.

Bryant

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