By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 10 years ago

Teens create new app to hold police accountable

teensapp

As Ferguson continues to reel after Michael Brown’s death and the police threaten to shoot journalists and tear gas children, three badass teenage coders from Georgia have developed a timely mobile app to hold police accountable.

Five-O, created by siblings Ima, Asha, and Caleb Christian, allows users to detail their encounters with police officers and rate them on their professionalism. Anyone can check how their community stacks up and the information will be sent to law enforcement. “We’d like to know which regions in the US provide horrible law enforcement services as well as highlight the agencies that are highly rated by their citizens, explained senior Ima.” 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.” 

Though it sure as hell doesn’t feel like it much of the time, the police are supposed to “protect and serve” us — all of us. Law enforcement departments across the country should be thanking these high school students for helping them see if their officers are doing their jobs. The app is available for download starting today!

Maya DusenberyMaya Dusenbery is an Executive Director of Feministing.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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Donna Dalton Vigil this
By Jess Fournier • 6 years ago

Ohio Cop Murders Donna Dalton, Sex Worker, Mother, and Friend

Last Friday in Columbus Ohio, Donna Castleberry Dalton, a 23-year old woman and mother of two was shot and killed by an undercover police officer after he forced her into his car and attempted to arrest her during a “prostitution sting.”  

Dalton’s friends and family are challenging the official police narrative of events. CPD Officer Andrew Mitchell is claiming he shot Donna Dalton 8 times in self-defense after she stabbed him in the hand during the attempted arrest. But the fact Dalton was not handcuffed at the time of the murder suggests ...

Last Friday in Columbus Ohio, Donna Castleberry Dalton, a 23-year old woman and mother of two was shot and killed by an undercover police officer after he