Mobile phone app to diffuse stop and search tension (From Streatham Guardian)

Tulse Hill students create Android phone app to cover police stop and search strategy

11:10am Wednesday 26th May 2010 in News By Matt Watts

A mobile phone application to help defuse tension surrounding the police's controversial stop and search policy will soon be available to download, thanks to three Tulse Hill students.

Aaron Sonson, 23, Satwant Singh Kenth, 26, and Gregory Paczkowski, 19, study at the High Trees Community Development Trust and were tasked with creating an “app” that would be useful to them and their community.

The software, that will soon be available to download nationwide, offers guidance on what is supposed to happen when someone is stopped and what people can do if they are unhappy with the way they are treated.

The students are due to meet this week with the Metropolitan Police to discuss its endorsement and use by police.

Mr Sonson said: "Stop and search is something that affects us all and a lot of people round here.

"A lot of people don’t understand why it is occurring and it can create tension."

He said it was not anti-police but would just allow people to feel more in control.

He added: "The app will act as a medium between young people and the police."

The application will be a picture-led tutorial on the stop and search process, that can be read at any time.

Those stopped can also use the app to log their experience or make a complaint. Users can also follow a checklist to ensure the correct search procedure is followed.

It would also give the Met a database of results that could be analysed to see whether there were problem “hotspots” where people felt they were being wrongly stopped, where disproportional amounts of stops were occurring, or where there were examples of good practice.

The students’ course - the "apps for good" programme - is the first in the country to be offered by the Center for Digital Inclusion, a social enterprise based throughout Latin America that offers disadvantaged communities the chance to improve lives through technology.

The free application will be available for Android phones in the next few weeks.