Canada, Technology

The View From Up North: Cool Piece Of Legal Tech Targets Deplorable Practice Of Carding

Knowing how to properly deal with the police? There's an app for that.

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You’re walking down the street, minding your own business. A police officer says, “Hey, I want to speak to you.” He’s big, he’s intimidating, and he’s got a Glock. Do you have to answer his questions?

Wait, let me pull out my smartphone and consult Legalswipe. What’s Legalswipe, you ask? It’s an app designed by an intrepid Ottawa University law grad, Christien Levien, to educate people before and during police encounters. By choosing your situation, the app will quickly refer you to specific laws and Charter sections, and provide you with advice on how to properly deal with the police.

In our above example, Legalswipe would prompt you to determine whether or not you’re under detention. The screen would suggest you ask the officer, “Am I under detention? If so, why?” If the police officer says “no,” Legalswipe would advise you that you are not required to provide ID to the officer. Furthermore, you’re entitled to walk away. Legalswipe suggests you say, “Given that I am not being arrested or detained, I refuse to answer any questions. I am not required to speak with you or stay here any longer.”

The app can also provide advice if the police ask to search you, enter your house, or conduct a DUI check.

What a fantastic, and needed, piece of technology. Toronto police are three times more likely to stop a black man than a white man. I have devoted several of my past columns to the racist police practice of carding, which, as you probably know, occurs when the police stop a person without probable cause, collect information about that person, and collate the information in a massive database. Most people don’t realize that if they’re not officially detained, they don’t have to answer questions. And, here’s the real troubling part about it: the police don’t have to tell you that you have no obligation to answer their questions.

The police get away with carding largely because they take advantage of peoples’ lack of education. It’s disgusting. Legalswipe is here to even the playing field.

Christen said the application came about as a result of seminars he presented to help people understand their legal rights. Through those seminars, he realized how difficult it was to educate people in digestible, useable bits. Additionally, he was only able to reach a small number of people. He knew lots more people needed his help. As a tech-savvy guy, he decided tech was the answer.

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Legalswipe has an additional important benefit. It’s kind of like cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It’s easy to learn on dummy, but difficult to put into practice on a dying person. How many compressions? How many breaths? Oh crap, where’s the ambulance? Same for an encounter with a large, intimidating police officer. It can be difficult to keep your legal rights straight under the stern gaze of an officer. With Legalswipe, simply tap on the situation and follow the prompts.

Additionally, Legalswipe can be set to video record encounters with police. Tap the record button at the beginning of the encounter and Legalswipe takes care of the rest. The video is automatically downloaded to your personal Dropbox, just in case your phone accidentally lands underneath an officer’s heel and ends up destroyed. Hey, it happens.

Legalswipe launched last week to excellent response — it actually crashed the servers. Christien says he is trying to raise funds to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future. Additionally he is working with Ryerson’s Legal Innovation Zone and LegalX at the MaRS Discovery District to expand the offering. He would like to increase the number of languages in which users can access information. As he notes, language barriers are a huge impediment for access to justice.

Overall, a very cool piece of technology — one that I hope spreads to other tongues and countries. As I mentioned, he’s looking for funding, so if you want to help out, you can go to Legalswipe’s GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/legalswipe.

That’s the View From Up North. Have an educated week.

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Steve Dykstra is a Canadian-trained lawyer and legal recruiter. He is the President of Keybridge Legal Recruiting, a boutique recruitment firm that places lawyers in law firms and in-house roles throughout North America. You can contact Steve at steve@keybridgerecruiting.com. You can also read his blog at stevendykstra.wordpress.com, follow him on Twitter (@IMRecruitR), or connect on LinkedIn (ca.linkedin.com/in/stevedykstra/).

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