Social Media DNA
Apps & platforms

App: Five-O

· 2 min read · Arnout de Vries

Banner with the word “FIVE-O” in large bold letters over a police car on a red-to-purple background.

The unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, is posing some new questions about law enforcement and the militarization of the police.”

Four smiling young people posing together in front of a brick wall; the file name links the photo to Pinetart Inc., the siblings’ app company.

Three teenagers from Georgia have decided to take the issue into their own hands. Caleb Christian, 14, and his two sisters – Ima, 16, and Asha, 15 and a little help from Joshua (10) – are about to roll out an app called “Five-O,” which will let users document police abuse and join together as a community to problem-solve. “We’ve been hearing about the negative instances in the news, for instance most recently the Michael Brown case, and we always talk about these issues with our parents,” Ima Christian told Business Insider. “They always try to reinforce that we should focus on solutions. It’s important to talk about the issues, but they try to make us focus on finding solutions. That made us think why don’t we create an app to help us solve this problem.”

Five-O lets users submit the details of any incident of police abuse and rate the specific officer. The app also has community boards for different counties so that users can communicate and plan responses to any difficulties with local police. The idea is to collect data that users can then bring to community activists, the media, and other forms of law enforcement. That way, it’s not just “he said, she said,” Caleb said. And they’re hoping to illuminate both the negative and the positive interactions users have with police officers. They want the good examples to serve as motivation for officers to do better.

But don’t be fooled by these teenagers’ young age. They are determined to make a difference. “You’re never too young to learn, and you’re never too young to make a difference,” Caleb said. The Christian siblings all have a strong background in coding, which made it possible for them to create Five-O along with two other apps (Coily and Froshly), all under their app development company called Pinetart Inc. Caleb, Ima, and Asha all participated in MIT’s k12 Scratch and App Inventor program, and with their parents’ encouragement (both have backgrounds in technology), continued to learn JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and Java. Five-O will be available on August 18 for both iOS and Android devices.

Five-O app start screen with the app name in white letters on a dark blue background.Five-O login screen with email and password fields, a “Remember password?” switch and a “Not Registered?” link.Five-O main menu with icons such as Create an Incident Report, Know Your Rights, Find Local Police Stations, Police Grades, Organize Your Community and Citizen reviews.Five-O “Organize Your Community” form with fields for name, county, state and a message, and a Submit button.Five-O “Police Interaction Report” form asking for the date and questions such as whether the stop was legitimate and whether the user was verbally insulted or physically assaulted.

Here’s the video preview for Five-O that is meant to Empower your community:

Watch on YouTube

Sources: BusinessInsider, CityLab

Questions about this article

What is the Five-O app?

Five-O is an app that lets users document incidents with police, rate the officer involved and communicate with others in their county to plan responses to problems with local police.

Who built Five-O?

The Christian siblings from Georgia: Caleb (14), Ima (16) and Asha (15), with help from Joshua (10). They have coding experience from MIT’s k12 Scratch and App Inventor program and built the app under their company Pinetart Inc.

Why did the teenagers create Five-O?

They had heard about negative police incidents in the news, such as the Michael Brown case, and their parents encouraged them to focus on solutions rather than only discussing the problems.

Questions and answers added in 2026, based on the article above.