
Georgia Teens Develop App to Document Police Abuse - logn
http://www.forharriet.com/2014/08/georgia-teens-develop-app-to-document.html
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brianbreslin
How come there is not a single link to the actual app in the article?

Here is a link to their app on their website:
[http://pinetartinc.com/?p=44](http://pinetartinc.com/?p=44)

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Zikes
This is what I hate most about online journalism. Even tech-centric web sites
will do it intentionally. Just the other day there was a TechCrunch article
about some .io company getting bought out and they made it a link, but instead
it takes you to the TC page about that company.

I'm pretty sure people working at these companies are just so certain that any
link leading people away from their web site will cost them money. As if
people will just wander onto their site, and as long as they can't find the
exit they'll be stuck there forever.

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tlrobinson
> As if people will just wander onto their site, and as long as they can't
> find the exit they'll be stuck there forever.

The digital equivalent of casinos' lack of windows.

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Steko
Not linking to a company described in a news article can be annoying but it's
not always some casino mentality code they have against outlinking to maximize
internal pageviews -- in many cases it's also journalism trying to hold onto
some standards of not just being a shill for the interview subject.

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davidgerard
The BBC somehow survives now that it's actually linking to papers referenced,
entities discussed in the article, etc.

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lclarkmichalek
Well being state funded probably helps in that regard

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davidgerard
I'd think that would work _against_ the claim being asserted - that external
links affect neutrality - given how closely people watch the BBC for any
possible bias and berate it for assumed bias (with or without cause).

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zerop
On similar lines 'I paid a bribe' from India..
[http://www.ipaidabribe.com/reports/paid#gsc.tab=0](http://www.ipaidabribe.com/reports/paid#gsc.tab=0)

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n72
Very similar to NYCLU's stop and frisk app:
[http://www.nyclu.org/app](http://www.nyclu.org/app)

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Renaud
The execution could need some polish and the UI isn't doesn't seem very
friendly (lots of fields to fill in) but such an app fills a real need.

This certainly doesn't replace official complaints but having independent data
collected on Police interactions can probably increase political pressure to
tackle abuses.

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bsder
More power to them, but it's not like we need more documentation of police
abuse.

We need some way to force a consequence _with_ said documentation. The police
in Missouri simply _don 't care_ because the penalties are so small that they
can be written off.

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bjelkeman-again
But with more data, publicly visible, it is easier to put pressure on
politicians and get things changed. There is no other way I know of.

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vidarh
Frankly, I think what it'll take is more riots.

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KMag
It's great to see kids doing great work for the public good.

Though, I do wonder how the app compares/will compare with the ACLU app for
the same purpose.

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ck2
There is a much easier answer.

Take the billions of dollars the pentagon and homeland security is giving to
these departments and instead of buying useless armored tanks and other
nonsense, buy a wearable camera for every cop in the country.

There are 700,000 cops in the usa. Bulk purchase at $100 each is $70 Million.
Throw in $30 million for tech support, downloading, etc. and you are at a
"mere" $100 million. Since it is a government program, budget it at five times
the cost and you are still "only" at half a billion, which is a fraction of
the pentagon's program.

Fund it now, make it a law they have to wear it at all times while on duty or
instant termination.

"suspects" will behave better, cops will behave better, it is already proven.

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nmrm2
Not that I disagree with your proposal at all, but you're probably
significantly under-estimating the cost.

The cameras need to be "designed for LEO!", so double their price. You also
need very expensive retention technology and obscene amounts of backup space
(even though the video always disappears whenever someone asks for it anyways)

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ck2
The 1033 program that gives them all these war machines costs taxpayers $5
Billion.

So I think my half billion estimate would work.

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mhluongo
Wooh, that's my high school! Very cool.

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downandout
Somebody call Marissa Mayer....I smell a $30 million payday for these kids.
Seriously though, they saw a problem in their daily lives and tried to use
technology to solve it. If they repeat that process enough times, eventually
they will succeed with something. Based upon the screenshots, this specific
app looks like it could use some polish, but then that could be said about Yo
and Snapchat.

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lazylizard
Can they do it for Symbian s40? Record n send by sms?

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onedev
Let's fund em.

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gojomo
Now if they just join YC, then I can say I called it 6 months ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7235346](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7235346)

| _YC (S14): "Yelp for Police Officers"_

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kordless
Please connect this to a blockchain.

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kazagistar
Why the hell is it a smartphone exclusive app? Isn't the target audience
largely underprivileged populations who might not have access to a smartphone?

Why do people want everything to be an app, when a website would do the job
better?

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froglet
These kids that made this grew up with apps, not websites. Apps are their
first choice.

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silentbicycle
But, isn't accessibility _excruciatingly_ important here?

This post ([http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/it-s-not-you-it-s-the-
sys...](http://modelviewculture.com/pieces/it-s-not-you-it-s-the-system))
mentions many ways well-intentioned projects can miss the mark, because of
these kinds of issues.

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unepipe
Actually, an app is more likely to be on a user's phone for this kind of
use... Although you can bookmark a website to your homescreen, most users
don't know how to do that and even less actually do that.

A mobile app is more likely to be on hand and easy to open in case of a run-
in. (Although it's not likely someone would remember to do so if something
were happening)

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kalagan
You can make a website and then an app which is just a wrapper around the
website.

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stasy
I just made an app too, but probably not as important...

