New iPhone Feature Lets You Record Police Interactions

There is an iPhone shortcut that allows users to document any roadside encounter with the police and send your location to an emergency contact.

First introduced in 2018, the “I’m Getting Pulled  Over” feature started gaining attention in the last couple of weeks in lieu of the current political climate in the United States.

The iOS feature can be used as a motorist’s version of the body cam that police often wear while on duty. It works by automatically recording interactions with the authorities on the road.

When in use, the app turns off any music that is playing in the background and uses the phone camera to make a recording. The recording and the location of the phone are then sent to an emergency contact specified in the device.

The iOS feature aims to hold authorities accountable in cases of misconduct or abuse of authority, which has been a divisive issue in the U.S. after a video of the brutal killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis went viral last month.

“This just… records things. That’s perfectly constitutional to record police, and if they are doing their jobs as they should be there’s no problem for them,” Robert Peterson, creator of the app, wrote on Twitter. “I’ll add that I’ve talked to some officers and none of them have had any issue with it at all.”

To open the shortcut, a user has to say, “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over.” The iPhone will then initiate a total of 18 different actions and immediately begin to record using the front-facing camera. It will also dim the screen to zero percent brightness and turn off the Do Not Disturb function. The video is also backed up to the iCloud or Dropbox account linked to the device.