Since the grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown, Brown鈥檚 family has to work to . That could be a great step toward convicting officers who act abusively and adding transparency to cop-citizen interactions. However, the system is set up in a way where police officers have an advantage in cases brought against them, and .
But other technologies could further help level the playing field. Perhaps the most exciting is the sensor, which is a chip that can be inserted into the handle of a gun to deliver data about when a firearm is outside of its holster, when it鈥檚 fired, what direction it is pointing, and where it is located. It connects to an officer鈥檚 phone via Bluetooth, with an accompanying app, and encrypted data is sent to the company鈥檚 servers and the police department. Reliable information about when, where and how many times a gun was fired could make a big difference in a case like Darren Wilson鈥檚.
The sensor was announced this year, and while no price has been officially set, according to a profile on , it may cost about and $10 per month for the data services. Although we鈥檝e known about the product for months, it won鈥檛 be available until mid-2015. You can put the sensor on any gun it fits into, but gun owners haven鈥檛 jumped at the idea of purchasing the sensor.
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Many of them are already worried about government regulation of guns via technology 鈥� just look at the that would fire only for a registered owner. Sensors may not be standard on all firearms in the US any time soon, but having police use them seems much less controversial.
鈥淭he system is rigged in favour of police officers,鈥� Adam Winkler, a law professor at University of California Los Angeles, says. Grand jury proceedings like Wilson鈥檚 are not like a normal trial with people arguing both sides. Prosecutors are typically close with the local police force. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e part of the same team,鈥� he says. Prosecutors鈥� cases are brought to them by police forces, and this results in a scenario where prosecutors are often not eager to convict an officer. That may be one reason why it seems that grand juries are against a cop involved with a shooting. Sensors could help fight bias in favour of police officers, by providing reliable data about chaotic situations with conflicting witness reports.
This is not to say that police body cameras aren鈥檛 useful. that took place in Rialto, California, found police conduct complaints were reduced by 87.5 per cent when body cameras were used. If sensors work as well as advertised, it seems like they would be a natural complement to body cams.
Studies of how the Yardarm gun sensor affects police conduct are currently taking place with the Sheriff鈥檚 Department in Santa Cruz County, California, and the police department of Carrollton, Texas, and it鈥檚 very possible they鈥檒l also find beneficial results.
We do have to be careful, though, because people鈥檚 trust of technology that they don鈥檛 necessarily understand 鈥� or that doesn鈥檛 live up to hype 鈥� can be dangerous. 鈥淭he evidence from technology can be very persuasive, but it鈥檚 not always as accurate as it is persuasive. We know this going back to the days of fingerprinting, which [was] thought to be so reliable,鈥� said Winkler. But , and , aren鈥檛 always as accurate as you might think.
鈥淭here鈥檚 always a danger 鈥� especially if people put too much faith in technology and treat sensor data as the word of God,鈥� says Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union鈥檚 Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. We want to have as much evidence as possible that can properly convict or acquit an officer, but we have to make sure it鈥檚 technology that actually works. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to see injustice perpetrated against either police abuse victims or police officers because some sensor went haywire,鈥� he said.
Gun sensors, if proven reliable, could serve both the public and the police department. But technology won鈥檛 cure the distrust and systemic problems that led to Ferguson. Technologies like sensors and body cams might make officers think about their actions more, but they鈥檙e mostly there to be used as evidence when it鈥檚 already too late.
This article first appeared in
writes for VICE, Fast Company and other publications
