Center for Autonomous Witness

The intent of this project is to facilitate a new form of justice, one that holds those enforcing the law to a new standard of honesty and transparency. Body cams have proved to be ineffective, even though mandated by every state, less than 10% of cases of police brutality are captured on body cams. This is because officers do not use them or turn them off leading up to the conflict, or tamper with the evidence after the event. This is unacceptable.

It is now time to use the advancements of technology and the accessibility of digital information to hold law enforcement officers accountable for their actions. 

This system of drone outposts is dispersed throughout a city. The structures, or outposts, deploy drones when a civilian reports a police stop. Ideally this report could be vocally activated with a smart phone – “Hey Siri, the police are here”. The drone arrives onsite and records the police throughout the interaction. The information is streamed back to the outpost to be monitored by civilians. 

These drone outposts would act as a facility to store and maintain drones, store, and broadcast information securely, and create a safe space for civilians. This new building typology could be freestanding or occupy existing structures like the space between billboards.