Miranda

Introduction 

Our team explored the underlying causes of the hostile relationship between law enforcement and civilians in the contemporary United States. The causes identified are aggressive policing backed by poor policy on the side of law enforcement, as well as implicit biases towards racial minorities and low-income people. Civilians, on the other hand, hold uncertainty and fear their safety because of a lack of understanding of their civil rights and police accountability. To address this problem, we seeked to create a solution that will empower civilians in their interactions with law enforcement.   

Solutions Considered

Mobile App

One solution to our issue is using a mobile app to both inform civilians of their rights and to be able to record and report police interactions. The app would include video/audio recording, incident reporting, contact mapping, and civic training on rights and conduct. Using an app for our solution would provide the benefit of including video and audio recording, allowing there to be a more accurate form of reporting police incidents. The app would also be very easy to use during an incident, and is very accessible to anyone who has a phone. However, one drawback of this solution is that it might not be the best way to pass on civic training information, as there is a lot of information that would need to be given, and many people are averse to reading big blocks of text on their phones. 

Website

A solution for the poor relationships between civilians and law enforcement is a website that empowers civilians with knowledge. One feature of the site is an interactive, informative resource that educates users on types of interactions with law enforcement, what their rights are in a given interaction, as well as suggestions on navigating the given interaction. The site will also have a mapping system feature which informs users on places in their locale where law enforcement interactions have occurred. The information will describe frequency of interactions, the type of interaction (pulled over, street stop, etc.), and the nature of interactions (positive, neutral, inappropriate, or violent). This information will be self reported by users in a third feature that allows users report law enforcement interactions anonymously. This website enlightens users on their civil rights when stopped by the police and where these police stops tend to happen. 

Informational Pamphlet 

Traditionally, singular subjects are emphasized through pamphlets which are educational in nature. By not utilizing complicated vocabulary and jargon, this method is effective at conveying simple information in an organized manner. Utilizing pamphlets to inform the general populous of their rights during police interactions has both pros and cons. Pamphlets are beneficial because the information is located in one spot and is summarized by key points, it is easy to travel with, and accessible to everyone regardless of digital literacy. Pamphlets present an issue in the following areas: they can be lost/destroyed, changes in laws would need to be updated (making old editions obsolete), and the amount of information presented is limited. Over time, the use of pamphlets has decreased significantly. This decline can be attributed to the rise of the digital era, and striving to use more environmentally-friendly means to convey information.

Social Media Campaign

A common problem that many people face is, how do we connect with the younger generation?. By utilizing the popular photo sharing app Instagram, we could start a social media campaign that would focus primarily on informing millennials and the younger generation of what their rights are during interactions with police. How this would work is we would create a brief description of why our page exists and the resources that we offer. In addition, we would also make daily posts that remind and give tips to people in regards to legal rights. This page could also be used to highlight police or citizen video footage that would be beneficial for learning more about police interactions and how to keep a situation from potentially escalating.

Selected Solution

We selected a mobile application as our solution. This is the ideal solution for our stakeholders because not only can an educational feature be implemented, but the camera phone can be utilized to include a recording feature as well. Our solution will empower civilians by informing them on their rights, and giving them the agency to hold law enforcement accountable. 

There are multiple advantages to creating this solution over the other four. First off, its ability to implement video and audio recording to gather physical evidence to use for law enforcement accountability. Second, it is a solution accessible to anyone with a camera phone/smartphone. Not only is making the solution available on camera phones make it more accessible, it makes it easier to use in real time. People who own camera phones tend to always have it on them, especially more often then they would have a laptop or brochure on hand. Third, much more information can be presented through a mobile application then can be presented in a brochure.

As human interactions are becoming increasingly technology-driven, an app that utilizes the technology most people have on their person the majority of the time seemed the most feasible for implementation. Evidence gathering can only be done efficiently via this solution, which is a significant feature of our platform. The informative portions of our platform are often not static -- laws/regulations/advice change frequently. This platform will permit our team to inform our stakeholders most effectively, and hopefully reduce negative police interactions in the future.

Description of Solution 

Our solution, the mobile app includes a video/audio recording system, an informative civic training feature, and a mapping system. The recording feature provides an unbiased report of police interactions and can be used to hold law enforcement accountable in their interactions with civilians. The recording tool empowers civilians because they feel more secure in interactions with law enforcement if they have a tool to hold officers accountable who violate their rights.  In addition, users can submit incident reports specifying further information on the incident. The text entry allows users to add supplementary information about the incident that may not have been recorded. For example, they can enter the badge name of the officer. The application would also include civic education training. This feature informs users on their civic rights in an interaction with law enforcement, and provides suggestions on how to navigate the given interaction. Types of interactions can include traffic stop, street stop, terry stop, arrest, consensual encounter, and ICE encounter. This feature informs citizens who are unaware of their rights or unsure of what to do in any situation involving police contact. The third feature of the mobile application will be a mapping system that presents users with information on police interactions logged in their location of interest. 

Product Features

Primary Features

Civil Education

The average user is not an expert on their civil rights, they may be apprehensive in encounters with law enforcement when they do not know their rights or how  to conduct themselves. Our app will provide a civic training feature. This page allows users to browse through different types of interactions with law enforcement, such as traffic stops, ICE encounters, searches, and other types of  interactions with the police. When a user selects a type of interaction to explore further, they will be brought to a page with in-depth information on their rights in the given interaction, as well as suggestions on how to interact with law enforcement to increase their sense of safety and security. 

Recording

Our app will allow users to quickly record both video and audio in the event of an interaction with the police. In order to allow this feature to work, the user must agree to allow the app to access their camera. After allowing access, the user will be able to record an interaction simply by opening the app and pressing the recording feature, which will be on the first page. Having the ability to quickly begin recording a police interaction is extremely beneficial to users, as it allows for them to have an unbiased recollection of the event. This recording of the event allows users to protect themselves in case their recollection of the event doesn’t match the police’s, as many people are inclined to believe the police over a civilian.

Mapping

Evidence gathered from user submissions by video, audio, and text entry will be automatically backed up in a cloud for the app’s data. The data on these interactions will be filtered for legitimacy and then published on to the mapping feature of the application. The mapping feature allows users to view where other users have had encounters with law enforcement. Users can view the amount of encounters, the type of encounters, and the “neutrality” of the encounter in a given area. This feature is useful for users because it gives them information on how to plan their routes to optimize their sense of safety and security. For example, an undocumented resident can use the mapping feature to inform themselves on where in their locale has there been recent encounters with ICE officers. 

Secondary Features

Personalization

When a user first downloads our app, they must allow access to video and audio recording features on their camera phone, as well as access to their location services. Enabling access to location services updates the app’s mapping system to the user’s current location. When users register an account with our app, it allows the user to personalize the app to their needs through a number of presets. The app will also allow users to choose their language and location preferences. While the app updates a users location information if they give the app access to do so, a user can preset their location to a place they intend to travel to in order to seek information about that area. 

Discreet Recording Interface 

When the user selects the recording feature, instead of the interface representing the recording feature, their screen will show a discreet interface. The default discreet interface will be a static interface resembling a navigation app to give the impression that the user’s phone is not recording the interaction. A navigation app was selected as the ideal discreet interface because it is a commonly used in the same instances that police stops are common. For example, traffic stops and street stops. The purpose of a discreet recording interface is to avoid law enforcement from becoming hostile or possibly confiscate the camera phone during an interaction. This feature was inspired by the Bright Sky app created by Hestia. This app was created for domestic violence abuse victims to help them record their abuse and inform users on their resources. This app’s features an inconspicuous name and logo that makes observers assume it is a weather app, protecting victims from their abuser who can observe or access their phone. 

Supplementary Information Submission 

After a user has completed recording, they have the option to submit additional information about the incident with a text entry. Along with the text entry, users can log the incident as “positive,'' “neutral”, or “negative”. This information will be uploaded to Miranda’s cloud, and may be added to the interaction report on the mapping system.  Registered users can submit their entries and it will be saved to a personal log associated with their account, which they can access from the app. Unregistered users can still submit additional information, but it will not be added to their account log.

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