Contactless Policing

According to new research in the New York Times this October, “Vehicle stops happen more than 50,000 times a day on average across America — by far the most common interaction between the police and the public — and disproportionately impact Black drivers…. The Times found that officers are conditioned to anticipate danger, and that they even sometimes create it. According to a review of the available footage [from 120 vehicle stops], dozens of deaths were seemingly avoidable had police officers not put themselves in harm’s way.”

We also know from customer discovery that many minority drivers may fear for their lives when they're pulled over.  Additionally, both passing traffic & the officer's 2nd approach to the vehicle pose significant safety concerns for officers.  Tension builds about unknown discovery for drivers as they wait for the officer to return to their vehicle.  Sometimes returning officers are met with hostility, injury from assault, or a fatal weapons discharge.  How can we diffuse this tension and avoid traffic encounters from escalating?  How can we avoid officer injury/loss of life from passing traffic?

Our solution effectively addresses these important concerns to make traffic stops safer for everyone involved and rebuild community trust.

Our patent pending technology is used by officers and drivers in the form of a phone app. Key parts:

1)    Connecting officers with drivers through recorded video between their first and second vehicle approaches for better de-escalation/communication.

2)    Providing features to more safely engage/assess disabled drivers when there is suspicion of DUI/DWI. 

3)    Providing data that help an officer assess the situation from a distance using wearable health technologies.

From dozens of customer discovery interviews, we know our technology meets the needs of 1-2 person officer teams who conduct traffic stops, drivers who find traffic stops stressful, and minority drivers concerned about police brutality/racial hostility. A majority of drivers indicate they would be significantly less stressed and fearful if they could communicate with an officer from a distance for some or all of a traffic stop.  Broad adoption would mean rebuilt trust between police and the communities they serve.

A prototype was completed when we filed for our patent (UXPin).  A more advanced prototype (Better.com) was completed after several pivots.  We competed in the George Washington University New Venture Competition (won Best Veteran Innovation/Best Covid-19 Innovation). We have been invited by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to submit a full proposal for consideration of SBIR Phase I funding for virtual sobriety testing.  We have a team including a Retired Austin Police Department Officer to assist us in completing our NSF work and several letters of support from a variety of specialists (psychologist, sheriff, former military, and political consultant).  Through robust screening we've selected a company to partner with for Agile software development of portions of our solution.  Importantly, dozens of customer interviews helped us pivot to this current state where we are seeking partnership with a Product Owner to beta test our solution/analyze the resulting data for expansion.