US Teens Launch Phone App to Keep Tabs on Police Brutality

Local Editor

Three teenagers from Georgia in the United States are hoping to shed light on the problem of police brutality and promote good behavior with a new app they’ve developed.

Called "Five-O," the app has been designed specifically for mobile phones and encourages users to record and document every encounter they have with police officers. By doing so, users can submit ratings for local law enforcement, allowing people to see how each area’s police departments stack up in terms of civil behavior.

16-year-old Ima Christian said her siblings came up with the idea after regularly hearing reports of police abuse around the United States, calling forth the negative instance in the news of the recent Michael Brown case.

Not only can users report instances of verbal and physical abuse by police, but they can also rate an individual officer’s behavior with a grade ranging from A to F. Ratings for each officer are stored and can be viewed by anyone, and the app separates department reviews by county so that neighboring residents can see how service differs outside of their immediate area.

According to ThinkProgress, citizens will be able to provide as much background on an incident as they like, and in instances requiring legal action, that data can be sent directly to law enforcement.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team