New Apple Shortcut Automatically Records Your Police Encounters

AFP PHOTO / Mandy CHENG (Photo credit should read Mandy Cheng/AFP/GettyImages

New Siri Shortcut Can Automatically Record Your Encounters With The Cops

It’s always a good idea to get your encounters with the police on video, and now it’s easier than ever to do so.

With just one simple phrase–“Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over”–drivers are able to get an added sense of security for the next time they’re pulled over.

With a new app called Shortcuts, iPhone users have the ability to create their own verbal commands that trigger their phones to perform a wide variety of actions–which is all accessible without having to press a button or touch the screen at all.

Because of this new feature, Redditor Robert Petersen out of Arizona has created and publicly released the add-on, “Police.”

With one quick phrase, your phone will now be discreetly directed to turn down distractions, send an alert to an emergency contact, and start recording whenever you’re pulled over by police.

“I have noticed in reading news articles and seeing reports on TV that in many cases you end up with police saying one thing happened and the citizen being pulled over saying another,” Petersen explained to USA TODAY. “And how do you determine truth? Sometimes the police have body cams, sometimes not, and even when they do it’s not always released in a timely manner.”

Peterson explained what happens with the launch of his Police shortcut on a Reddit post.

First, the Police shortcut will reduce distractions. This means turning off your music, turning down the screen brightness, and turning on Do Not Disturb mode so you will not get any notifications.

“When dealing with being pulled over and interacting with law enforcement, you want as little distraction as possible, and that includes music, bright screens and notifications coming in,” Petersen. “You want to be focused on the encounter at hand and don’t want any unnecessary distraction to yourself or to law enforcement personnel.”

Next, the shortcut sends a message to a contact of your choice, which will include a pre-written message, letting them know you got pulled over, and your current location.

Then, it opens your front camera–and all you have to do is press “Record.”

This shortcut is designed to give drivers an extra sense of security when being pulled over–will you be adding it to your phone shortcuts?