{"id":11523,"date":"2021-08-20T16:58:46","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T16:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=11523"},"modified":"2022-02-22T17:57:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T17:57:22","slug":"turnsignl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2021\/08\/20\/turnsignl\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a smartphone app de-escalate traffic stop encounters between drivers and police?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Childhood friends and Augsburg University Master of Business Administration alumni Andre Creighton \u201919 MBA<\/strong> and Mychal Frelix \u201919 MBA<\/strong> understand the fear of driving while Black and being stopped by police.<\/p>\n

They both grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and knew the family of Philando Castile, a Black man who was fatally shot by an officer during a 2016 traffic stop in nearby Falcon Heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interest in creating change started with Philando Castile. That was the initial gut punch,\u201d Creighton said. \u201cFlash forward to George Floyd in 2020, and it was like ripping off a Band-Aid to a wound that hasn\u2019t healed. We decided we had to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creighton, an accountant, and Frelix, who was in sales for Sony Electronics, left their stable day jobs in 2020. They teamed up with attorney Jazz Hampton, who is also an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and the three Black men launched a new company providing a technology-based solution to de-escalate traffic stops by police.<\/p>\n

Timely launch<\/h3>\n

The motto says it all: \u201cDrive with an attorney by your side.\u201d<\/p>\n

TurnSignl provides real-time, on-demand legal guidance from attorneys to drivers, all while drivers\u2019 smartphone cameras record the interaction. The mission is to protect drivers\u2019 civil rights, de-escalate roadside interactions with police, and ensure both civilians and officers return home safely at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

As is true of many startups, the three co-founders wear multiple hats. Hampton serves as CEO and general counsel. Creighton is the chief financial officer and chief operating officer while Frelix is the chief revenue officer and chief technology officer.<\/p>\n

When Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in April, that only accelerated their pace to bring the app to market. \u201cThis has been an issue plaguing Black and brown communities,\u201d Frelix said. \u201cWe\u2019re thankful to have the ability and skill sets to get this off the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

They introduced the TurnSignl app in May after they were able to leverage the public awareness of police stops ending tragically to raise more than $1 million to bring the app to market.<\/p>\n

\"TurnSingl
Augsburg MBA alumni created an app to make traffic stops safer. (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How TurnSignl works<\/h3>\n

Users open the app and immediately get connected to an attorney vetted by TurnSignl to guide them in order to de-escalate the encounter. Service launched in Minnesota and will be expanding to 10 states by the end of 2021. The founders also have created a foundation to provide service for those unable to pay for the app, which is available on the Apple and Google app stores. They expect the foundation to support 25% of the app\u2019s user base.<\/p>\n

While the app is intended for anyone, there is increasing attention to how Black drivers are treated by police.<\/p>\n

Twin Cities NBC affiliate KARE 11 reported<\/a> in May that new data shows that the majority of drivers pulled over this year by Minneapolis police for minor equipment violations are Black: Black drivers accounted for more than half of those stops despite making up only about 20% of the city\u2019s residents, according to city data.<\/p>\n

In St. Paul, Black drivers were almost four times more likely to be pulled over by police than white drivers, according to a Pioneer Press analysis of data<\/a> from 2016 to 2020. Asian, Latino, and Native American drivers were stopped at roughly the same rate as white drivers, the Pioneer Press reported.<\/p>\n

The TurnSignl founders say their product is more than just an app. It\u2019s a signal for change. \u201cThere\u2019s no better opportunity to impact change than this moment, now,\u201d Creighton said.<\/p>\n

Defense attorney Taylor J. Rahm is one of the lawyers who has joined TurnSignl to be on call for motorists. \u201cAnything we can do to make sure these situations are safe and that no one gets harmed is something I hope any lawyer would want to get involved with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, a motorist making sudden movements is interpreted as cause for alarm and can be construed by an officer as the driver going for a weapon or drugs, leading to potential conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith TurnSignl, you have a lawyer on the phone to help individuals know their rights but also importantly know how to handle the situation so nothing goes wrong,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cThe benefit is that the officer knows that there\u2019s an attorney on the phone telling the person, \u2018This is what you should do during the stop.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The TurnSignl app has the potential to make traffic stops safer for police as well as motorists, said Mylan Masson, retired director of the Hennepin Technical College law enforcement program and a former Minneapolis Park Police officer. \u201cEvery traffic stop can be dangerous for police officers,\u201d said the police training expert. The TurnSignal app \u201ccould give someone a calming sense that, \u2018I\u2019m not here alone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Business owner Phil Steger offers the app as an employee benefit for his 14-person Brother Justus Whiskey Company in Minneapolis, believing TurnSignl\u2019s attorneys can act as mediators to keep a traffic stop from escalating into danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think you\u2019ve been stopped unlawfully, most people don\u2019t know that they still have to cooperate,\u201d said Steger, who was previously an attorney for law firm Dorsey & Whitney. \u201cYou can still be taken to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

A TurnSignl attorney can advise in real time: \u201cEvery defendant has the right, if they think they have been stopped unlawfully, to challenge the case in court later,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Co-founders
TurnSignl co-founders [L to R] Mychal Frelix \u201919 MBA<\/strong>, attorney Jazz Hampton, and Andre Creighton \u201919 MBA<\/strong> plan to expand the app\u2019s services from Minnesota to 10 more states by the end of 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Business project for \u2018the times we\u2019re in\u2019<\/h3>\n

As the TurnSignl founders prepared to launch the company, they turned to Augsburg\u2019s MBA program<\/a> to assist them in developing the business plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cA key part of the Augsburg MBA experience is that we want students to have practical experience and apply critical thinking,\u201d said George Dierberger<\/strong>, associate business professor and director of the MBA program.<\/p>\n

Students in the MBA program grapple with real-world challenges faced by local businesses via a management consulting project, which supported TurnSignl\u2019s launch. This is just one of the many MBA program experiences in which students collaborate on projects, case studies, presentations, and simulations.<\/p>\n

The TurnSignl project represents Augsburg\u2019s goals to be socially conscious, said Mike Heifner \u201921 MBA<\/strong>, who worked on the pricing strategy of the TurnSignl business plan. \u201cThis was a good example of how capitalism could bring social value to society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Augsburg graduate student Stephanie Oliver \u201921 MBA<\/strong> hopes the TurnSignl app will open new conversations and foster a different way of thinking about how police and civilians interact during traffic stops.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project was my first choice because of the times we\u2019re in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Oliver\u2019s role in the MBA group was to analyze the research and data about traffic stops nationally by race. What she found was a system with inconsistent reporting about race and traffic stops across states. What was clear was that even after accounting for those inconsistencies, the disparities were apparent in stops involving people of color.<\/p>\n

One of the studies she reviewed was the Stanford Open Policing Project<\/a>, which analyzed data from nearly 100 million traffic stops and found significant racial disparities in policing and, in some cases, evidence that bias also played a role.<\/p>\n

This didn\u2019t surprise Oliver. Her husband is Black and was frequently pulled over when they first moved to their Twin Cities suburb years ago. Once, the police even questioned her then 5-year-old daughter about whether he was actually her father.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask why I\u2019m being pulled over when officers approach my vehicle, and they get angry at me,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cBut I have a right to know why I\u2019m pulled over.\u201d<\/p>\n

She worries about her two young Black sons but is optimistic that the TurnSignl app can start to change the dynamics during a police stop. \u201cI know when my daughter goes to Augsburg this fall, I\u2019m going to get this app for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TurnSignl\"The TurnSignl app is available on the Apple and Google app stores.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Data on drivers and police traffic stops<\/h3>\n

Key findings from the national data research Stephanie Oliver \u201921 MBA<\/strong> gathered for the TurnSignl business plan:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • On average, legal intervention death rates for Black men, were 4.7 times higher<\/strong> than those of white men from 1979 to 1988, and 3.2 times higher from 1988 to 1997. (2002 American Journal of Public Health study)<\/li>\n
  • Black men are 3 times more likely than other races to die from the use of police force.<\/strong> Oliver said this was particularly alarming as Black males make up only about 6% of the total U.S. population. (2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s National Vital Statistics Data 2010\u201314)<\/li>\n
  • When driver race\/ethnicity was visible, Black drivers were nearly 20% more likely to be the subject of a discretionary traffic stop<\/strong> than were white drivers. (2014 San Diego State University research)<\/li>\n
  • Among males aged 10 years or older who were killed by police use of force, the mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals was 2.8 and 1.7 times higher<\/strong>, respectively, than that among white individuals. (Racial\/Ethnic Disparities in the Use of Lethal Force by U.S. Police 2010\u201314)<\/li>\n
  • Search rates for whites are significantly lower<\/strong>, at around 18% of the traffic stops, while search rates for Blacks and Hispanics total about 82%. (Compiled from Stanford Open Policing Project data for Connecticut; Illinois; North Carolina; Rhode Island; South Carolina; Texas; Washington; and Wisconsin; and municipal police departments in Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Plano, Texas; San Diego; and San Francisco)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n

    Top image:<\/em> Andre Creighton \u201919 MBA<\/strong> (left) and Mychal Frelix \u201919 MBA<\/strong> were motivated to leave their stable jobs in 2020 to focus on launching the TurnSignl app. (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Childhood friends and Augsburg University Master of Business Administration alumni Andre Creighton \u201919 MBA and Mychal Frelix \u201919 MBA understand the fear of driving while Black and being stopped by police. They both grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and knew the family of Philando Castile, a Black man who was fatally shot by an <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":11630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[101,111,218,121,187,126,164],"class_list":["post-11523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-academic-departments","tag-alumni-news-and-updates","tag-best-of","tag-experiential-education","tag-graduate-programs-news","tag-mba","tag-spring-summer-2021"],"wps_subtitle":"Auggie-created TurnSignl app provides an attorney on demand so everyone gets home safely","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11523"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11670,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11523\/revisions\/11670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}