Darcie Moran | Detroit Free Press
Yes, Siri can help iPhone users to record police interactions.
The Apple Shortcut plugin “They’re Stopping Me” has reappeared online and in the news amid talks in Michigan and around the world about the police brutality following the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a black man, died in Minneapolis after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The plugin was developed by Reddit user Robert Petersen during the 2018 iOS 12 release, which included a new “Shortcuts” app.
The application, in general, is designed to simplify tasks and commands through Siri. Although some shortcuts, such as audio reads from emails, are already available for setup once the app has been downloaded, Petersen’s creation can be removed from Reddit for use.
The shortcut stops any music that is playing, lowers the brightness and volume, activates Do Not Disturb and sends the message and the user’s location to a contact of their choice to inform them of the police arrest, Petersen said in a Reddit post. . .
The shortcut also opens the front camera of the device and starts a video recording.
Once the user finishes recording, it is sent to the chosen contact and the user can choose to send it to iCloud Drive or Dropbox as well.
Also, the volume and brightness are back to normal and Do Not Disturb is turned off.
Interviewed by USA TODAY in 2018, Petersen said he had read news articles and watched television reports with the police giving a different version of events than civilians. He noted that the police do not always have body cameras and videos that are not always released quickly.
“My only goal with the police shortcut is to try to help people stay safe … and honest,” she told USA TODAY. “99.999% of the time you will never need it, but if you end up in a situation where it ended up being a good idea, you will be grateful that you did.”
