In Light of Violence, New App Grades Police Interactions

A new app, Five-O, would allow users to rate their interactions with law enforcement officers and store the "grade" in an online database. Caleb Christian, a 14-year-old student at Parkview High School in Lilburn, Georgia, had been moved by the recent surge in news coverage of police violence. In response, he wanted a way to know which communities had trustworthy law enforcement officers and which didn’t. In July, Christian founded the app development company Pinetart Inc., along with his two older sisters Ima and Asha. From there, the three teenagers created Five-O. According to For Harriet: 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. … “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 Pinetart Co-founder Ima Christian. Pinetart Inc. already has two more projects in production: Froshly, a an app that allows freshmen to meet each other before the first day of school, and Coily, a crowdsource hub for tips on hair care. Five-O, however, is still in alpha testing, and is slated for its debut on August 18. It will be available for download on Apple and Android products.