Gwinnett teens create app to track public interactions with police

Caleb Christian was troubled by the number of news reports he saw about police brutality.

So he and two of his siblings thought it would be cool to create an app that allowed the public to rate their interactions with law enforcement.

The free app, aptly named Five-0, let’s users rate interactions with law enforcement on a scale ranging from A to F. Users can rate police on their professionalism and courtesy and can search by zip code, county and state.

"It looked like all police were bad," said the 14-year-old Parkview High School freshman and co-founder of Pinetart Inc. "I thought 'they don't go to the police academy for that.' They go to help people. We thought, why not create an app where you see the good interactions as well as the bad?"

The teens say it’s coincidental that the app was released soon after the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teen, by police in Ferguson, Missouri. They’ve actually been working on the app since January.

The small suburb outside of St. Louis has been the scene of protests, some resulting in scuffles between protesters and police and looting, since Brown’s death. A grand jury is expected to start hearing evidence in the case soon.

But that, no doubt, has spurred a lot of public interest and national media attention in the Christian siblings project.

A beta version of the free app for Android users had a soft launch on Sunday. By Monday night, there had more nearly 1,000 downloads.

“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from people who think it’s a useful app,” said Ima, a 16-year-old senior at Parkview. “We hope to solve a problem with technology, but, personally, we don’t think cops spend all day just pulling people over.”

Still the siblings, who have all participated in science, technology, engineering and math programs, say there were bothered by what’s happening in Ferguson.

Asha, 15, a sophomore at the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, said they often discuss controversial issues with their parents, who help put things in context.

The Brown case ” has been something really hard to process,” Ima said. She hopes the positive interactions posted on the Five-0 app “can be role models for the negative.”

The app is free and currently available only on Androids and can be downloaded from the Google Play store. The Christians expect it to be available in the iPhone shortly.

The teens plans to introduce two other apps soon this year — one for black hair care and another for college freshmen to connect.

The siblings said they were encouraged by their parents to embrace technology since elementary school.

“I just saw these young kids — mostly white — who were coming in with no college degrees and making $85,000 or $90,000 with these dot-coms,” said their mother, Karen Christian, who works in technology.

In 2009, blacks received 7 percent of all science, technology, engineering and math bachelor's degrees, 4 percent of master's degrees, and 2 percent of doctorate degrees according to the National Center for Education Statistics.