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Five-O: Who’s Policing the Police?

One of my Facebook friends posted a thought provoking question in light of the Mike Brown tragedy: “Who’s policing the police?”

My thoughts reverted back to a picture I once reposted on Instagram after the Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin deaths. The picture was of a cemetery riddled with headstones of young black boys whose lives were taken too soon by others who used excuses such as: “I thought he had a gun”, “He Played His Music Too Loud”, “He Texted In A Movie Theater”, “He Looked Threatening” or “I was afraid for my life.” Like a patchwork quilt my thoughts weighed, threading together the symbolism of each of these young boys deaths. It left me with thought of my now two-year old son. Would this happen to him one day? Will a cop mistake my first born as a robbery suspect one day and “accidently” shoot-to-kill him? Who will police the police?

 

Then today, I read a story of Caleb Christian, a 14-year-old high school freshman in Georgia who created an app to in essence “Police the Police”, as it to monitors which regions in the US provide horrible law enforcement services. With the goal to “To change the dynamic between law enforcement and communities.” The name of the app is“Five-O” and it allows citizens to rate and leave reviews of their police districts, according to Madamenoire.com.

The app is programmed so that citizens can input details of every interaction they have with the police officers they encounter. Christian’s older sister and co-creator Asha, expects that all parents will want the app for not just themselves but for their kids. According to their website PineArtInc, Five-O is currently in Alpha testing and will roll out to the public on August 18th, 2014, available to both Apple and Android. Talking about taking charge! Read more here.

Check out Five-O video here.