Just as their motto suggests, police officers exist to protect and serve. Their job is to respond and take action when the unthinkable happens. People remember stories they’ve been told and experiences they’ve had and project these ideas upon others. Officers use these biases to stay safe when entering situations, and most of the time it works in their favor. But sometimes, biases lead to prejudice, and prejudice can lead to over-action. What if an officer could enter a situation without bias, and instantly know how he/she should act towards this singular instance? They could seamlessly create a bias towards this one person; backed by situational awareness, biological data, and a person’s previous history and use their training in communication to steer an interaction towards a peaceful, and therefore successful, resolution. That is the goal of OVT. We strive to keep officers safe, but not at the expense of the safety of a citizen.
Imagine growing up believing men and women in a uniform were always there to help you. Then, suddenly, you start to see those people harming others when they didn’t need to. Imagine growing up and thinking this was normal. We all grow up differently, but recent videos are bringing to light problems many people were blind to, and others were overexposed to. These situations can never be normal. Something has to change. Police have to be the people anyone, anywhere can respect and know can help them.
Marches and protests are on the rise just like they were in the 1960s. The people in these protests are mix of those that have seen the worst that systemic racism and profiling offers, and others that believe it too. Groups like Black Lives Matter don't black citizens to have more than anybody else. They want the same treatment as everybody else. They ask for three things in order to get there. Transparency, justification and accountability are interwoven in all scenarios of what modern policing should, and needs, to be.
Not only do citizens want justification, but heads of departments do too. We spoke with a county sheriff about how he needs his officers to act. He knows many of his officers have started to pause before drawing their weapons, and hesitation is dangerous for everyone in that type of situation, but he also stressed that as long as an officer can prove their justification for whatever role they have, he will support them. If not, he will cut them to the wolves. Many departments across the country are using body cameras, but many don't require them to be on all the time. These cameras are seen by most to protect citizens from officers, but in the eyes of officers and departments, they are a useful tool in showing justification for actions and matching an officer's story to what actually happened.
The most dangerous situations officers can be in are domestic disturbances and traffic stops. These are dangerous because the other party knows more about their car or dwelling than the officer does. They put themselves into possible danger every time they respond to calls. When a shooting happens, we run away, they do the opposite. In movies, we know who the bad guy is. Police in real life don’t. They have to be prepared for the worst, but they should never have to expect the worst. Statistics show that officers are safer when they have a partner with them. Some of this added protection is from outnumbering who they interact with, but most of it stems from the ability to accrue more information about a situation. The problem is that many departments can't afford to send out two officers per car. Officers, like any profession, do better work when they feel comfortable with their situation and having more information available helps in this regard. How do we feed officers more information when they're alone in an unknown situation?
After videos surfaced of questionable actions by police, the entirety of the policing system began to be questioned. Officers often go unpunished or are given too light of sentencing after ending the life of a citizen they encounter. It takes far too long for video of police footage to surface and complaints about officers often go unheard and forgotten. The Black Lives Matter movement asks for one thing to be resolved over anything else: Transparency. The way police departments respond to the public are too hidden and the way officers are trained teaches inexperienced recruits to expect the worst of the people they serve. Something must change, and it starts before any hardware is designed.
The future of policing starts with the officers themselves. Many departments are arming themselves with gear, weapons, and vehicles designed for military occupations, which is exactly the opposite of what we believe they should be. By escalating their gear, departments are telling their officers they have something to fear and fight. This should never become the status quo. By establishing a new standard for what departments and officers are expected to be, communities will be able to trust officers and feel safe in all scenarios.
Revised Academy & Training
The current Police Academy teaches the law and what to do when called to certain types of situations. The problem is that every situation is different because people are different. The Academy should teach how to understand people and adapt to any situation. An officer should learn more about psychology, sociology, and the history of why people act the way they do so officers will be ready for situations based on the people they encounter.
Greater Level of Scrutiny
The “brotherhood” that many professions have should not be present in policing. It’s dangerous to departments, citizens, and the officers themselves. Officers should be held to a three-strike, complaint-based system inwhich offenses can lead to firing. This means complaints must be checked against video footage.
Neutral Party
In order to prevent offenses from being forgotten, video from cameras will be stored by a third party. This footage will be encrypted and archived until a warrant is issued via a complaint or by the police department in defense of an officer. Cameras record footage in order to create equal representation for both parties and the files should always be treated that way. Complaints will also be received by this third party.
Better Benefits
Officers have one of the most stressful jobs imaginable. An average day is often boring until it suddenly shifts to become very dangerous. This stress can lead to officers becoming jaded with the job itself and make mistakes because of it. Experience counts and officers should be over 25 and under 50, with a maximum time of twenty years before pension. Medical insurance and education for dependents should also be included.
Assignments
Police need to know the people they work with and citizens should know the people who police them. By assigning officers to one neighborhood for months at a time allows them to learn about the citizens they encounter and better learn how to work with them. Both parties are then able to see each other for what they are: human beings. There should also be a standard uniform across the US so people always know who to look for when in trouble.
Transparency
Statistics should be public record and available more quickly than they are now. Police metrics are often under reported to the FBI. These help governments understand how best to modify business in order to keep people safe. More oversight is needed to maintain the peace between police departments and their communities.
With the systemic issues resolved, the immediate concerns for officer and public safety in police interactions must be tackled. This comes down to arming officers with as much information as possible. Without a physical partner with them, they'll need a digital partner to actively compile information on who, what, when, where, and eventually the possibilities of how to continue an interaction for the best outcome.
Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool as it can use technology humans don't naturally have. Video and audio can be enhanced to make small movements more exaggerated and easier to see. With processors becoming more robust and intelligent, AI's will be able to pick up crucial information that humans physically can't.
Motion Magnification
Most human eyes are only sensitive to macro motions. The OVT AI is sensitive to micro movements and changes in color. This means changes in posture, blood flow, and eye movements can all be captured.
Object Recognition
The OVT AI continues to scour the space around the officer even when the officer is occupied with whomever they are interacting with. It alerts the officer if it detects something the officer should inspect.
Vocal Emotive Recognition
Aside from translating phrases and slang, the AI also detects movements in the sound waves of a vocal pattern and translates them into emotion. It then updates the officer, who can then decide to change the direction of conversation.
Personalized Artificial Intelligence
The AI also responds to bio feedback from the officer. An example of this is if the officer’s vocal patterns and heart rate match a response of fear, the AI automatically calls for back-up.
The on-board AI determines what level an individual meets in various categories to help make a decision as IT sees fit for the officer to move forward. The officer can use this information to make the final call as to how he/she should move forward in the interaction.
Ideation of form took place in parallel with an evolving feature set and modified with feedback from officers. The initial idea was an AR headset with visual feedback to the user. After further research, that idea was scraped because officers believed that they use all of their attention in interactions that any other visual data could compromise their effectiveness in reacting to unfolding events. This heavily modified the feature set as a shift from visual to auditory was made. This has another positive effect in that many people perceive officers that wear sunglasses to be more threatening because they are unable to see their eyes.
Once the feature set was locked down, the form was free to become an unobtrusive statement. Police already carry firearms and a title that serves to give them a sense of authority and, when they need it, intimidation. Every other object an officer carries should be neutral and merge into the rest of their uniform, or "tactically invisible". Much of consumer electronic design today uses this principle to fade into a user's home or lifestyle.
The computer and battery were moved to a separate unit to eliminate the weight from the officer's head. This allowed the device to float around half of the head instead of having to clamp across the forehead. This computer is then tucked into the back of the officer's duty vest.
Final color, material, and finish came down to blending into the officer's uniform and being designed to last the trials of being used every day, and sometimes in very physical activity. The headset consists of a shock resistant ABS to keep the headset light, maintain its flex ability, and protect the internals. The cable connecting the headset to the computer is braided to match both the officer's uniform and his/her hat. The computer uses polished ABS for the top housing and powder coated aluminum to spread the heat of the battery evenly.
The camera housing found on either side of the headset contains two camera modules; one telephoto, and one wide angle. When paired together, the AI is able to see the entire situation with a 180° view, and with precision to match. Microphones facing externally and internally hear everything said by the officer and anyone around him/her.
Internal slides, driven by a spring-tensioned locking mechanism, are used to correctly size and secure the headset to a wearer’s head. A wearer can change the size on-the-fly by pushing the exterior button up and sliding backward or forward.
The battery, processor, memory, and antennas are all placed in a computer system apart from the headset in order to reduce size and weight. This also opens up the possibility for larger batteries, and more memory.
Textures are used tactically for grip on the buttons, sizing band, and bone conductive pads. The places that touch a wearer’s head, the band and pads are soft touch for grip and easy cleaning.
The headset and computer are connected via a magnetic USB-C port, which disconnects if pulled on suddenly. USB-C also allows data to be transferred both directions through the port simultaneously.
The headset fits through tension built into its molded frame, but not all heads are the same size. The cameras require a specific relative angle in order to eliminate blindspots and map environments correctly. Motors built around the pivot points automatically keep the two sides of the headset parallel.
Humans do their best work when the element of stress is removed. One of the biggest stress points for police officers stems from the lack of information in any given situation. The OVT headset is designed to fluidly give an officer access to information on the environments and people they interact with. This allows them to enter a situation without bias, yet still be prepared for any possibility. This project is meant to strengthen the officer's judgement and renew the idea that justice is blind.
During the spring of 2017, the University of Cincinnati Police Department realized it was having a problem with public relations. In 2015, Ray Tensing, one of their officers, was seen shooting an unarmed man named Samuel Dubose in a questionable situation. The shooting took place off campus and Mr Dubose was not a student. This shooting sparked even higher racial tensions in a city historically known for the same problems. The UCPD decided that it wanted not only to fix the way that its officers function within the community, but also visibly show the change with a new uniform. Knowing that they had a world class design college on its campus, they asked UC's DAAP School of Design to help. The fashion design program would handle the soft goods and overall aesthetic for active duty, off duty, and formal attire. The graphic design program would handle graphics, badges, and patches for visual communication. The industrial design program had a different problem to solve. Not only to solve aesthetics and what they mean to citizens and the officers themselves, but how can we make officer's jobs easier through their uniforms. To start, we looked at the current state of police uniforms.
Though an extreme case, the Ferguson, Missouri riots showed what many police departments have become. Since the American police force was created, they have been given hand-me-downs from military surplus. This includes not only their uniforms, but their weapons and vehicles. The problem is that they are not trained to use these weapons and vehicles in the same, and proper, way that soldiers are. As you can see in the image, the officers have their weapons raised, even though proper technique dictates they only raise their weapons when they are ready to fire. Next, we explored the psychology behind this error.
"Enclothed Cognition" is a term to describe the effect of what a person wears on their psychological processes. School, the media, and the nationalism within our country teaches us from a young age what an army soldier looks like and does. When a citizen sees an officer wearing tactical gear, and even just a tactical vest outside or even the added bulk within, they perceive them immediately as a danger. Officers, when wearing tactical gear, feel the same affect. Often times, officers that wouldn't normally be aggressive, will become the aggressor when they don't need to be. Many departments still use black as their main uniform color. This is often for concealment at night (when most dangerous calls occur), but black is perceived as the most aggressive color, immediately in front of red. This makes the job of designing the aesthetics of the UCPD uniform very difficult because UC's colors are red and black.
The function of the uniform is 80% function, 20% trying to look casual, and 100% uncomfortable. There are seemingly hundreds of pockets for paper and pencils, but nearly 15 pounds of gear hangs off of an officer's belt. So instead of keeping their pants up, it drags them down. If someone tries to run, all of that weight ends of swinging around. In order to make an officer's job easier throughout a 10 hour day, that weight needs to move somewhere else. Another problem with the belt? Female officers have to take their belt off every time they go to the bathroom. That means getting 15 pounds of gear up onto their waists every time. All of this ends up adding stress to an already stressful job.
Current vests add more places to hold gear, but they look militaristic (unsettling on a college campus or anywhere in a community to be honest). If a vest is designed, it needs to match what people are already used to seeing in their everyday lives but also create a benefit for the officer. Athletic and lifestyle wear is a good benchmark.
The initial prototypes for the vest had the belt incorporated into the vest (hard to get on) or the belt suspended (belt hangs to low or vest too high for protection).
After the first round of prototypes and feedback from UCPD officers, the belt moved to the the bottom of the vest, but easily attachable with magnetic slide clasps. This makes getting the belt on and off much easier and transfers the weight of the belt to the shoulders and back instead of the waist. Graphics also get the point across who and where an officer is from. Padding on the inside promotes airflow when kevlar inside cuts it off. Perforations on the sides and shoulders replace velcro (a heavily utilitarian and therefore militaristic material). A large pocket is available for miscellaneous papers, and reflective graphics make police noticeable when they're needed.
The next mockup included a pocket for the OVT computer (for future-proofing obviously). The vest also included placement for the magnetic clips to attach the belt. This was the final mockup before finalizing materials, so measurements were taken twice to make sure the vest was absolutely comfortable.
The graphic team also designed badges that I mocked up for the project.
The final vest was assembled and sewn by me and was eventually modeled at the annual UC Fashion Show, showcasing the new uniforms and some of the officers of UCPD. Though I offered to get someone else to model the vest and the OVT headset, they decided that because I "looked like a police officer", I should do it. The vest was also in the local news when describing the project.