Georgia Teens Create Police Brutality App
In the wake of the police killings of Eric Garner, John Crawford, Mike Brown and Ezell Ford, scores of United States citizens see the police force as a problem. Too often, police brutality goes unchecked, leaving many (mostly Black males) hopeless. Well, teens Ima, Caleb and Asha Christian of Decatur, GA feel as though they have a solution. They have created the Five-O app for iPhones and Androids to help increase accountability for police officers. It is their the third app they’ve created through their company, PineTart, Inc.. Five-O co-creator, Ima Christian told Buzzfeed, “We had been hearing a lot about the scary and negative issues occurring in the media, most recently, the Michael Brown case, and we talk to our parents often about these issues and they really try to put everything into context for us. One of the things they really stress is that we focus on finding solutions.”
The app is now in a beta version. According to the app’s site:
Five-0 allows citizens to record and store data from every encounter with law enforcement. Find out how people in your community rate your local law enforcement. Submit your reviews and share them with family, neighbors, media and the international community. Rate and review law enforcement and create a safer community for all!
The app is also meant to promote positive things police may do. Ima explained, “We definitely want there to be a balance. If someone has a positive interaction with the police… for example, an officer saved your cat, or was very courteous and professional, we want people to be able to document that too. We hope that law enforcement agencies with positive reviews can help by functioning as role models.”
The bottom line though, according to Ima,“The main function of Five-O is to give a voice to the community which hopefully results in a better functioning law enforcement system.
You can follow the Christian sisters’ developments on Facebook and/or Twitter.
