Year after year police brutality and excessive force has taken the lives of Black individuals sparking Black parents across the globe to have “the talk” with their children before they even learn how to drive.
For David Price, conversations with his parents about interactions with the police if he were to get pulled over for a traffic stop, led him to wonder if there was anything on the market that could help facilitate those interactions and prevent those stops from going left.
“My parents have always been extremely transparent with my sisters and me about driving and just interacting with law enforcement and just how to act in general,” shared Price in an interview with AfroTech. “I did some research and didn’t find anything on the market that I really liked or thought would be safe for both officers and drivers, and that’s when I came up with the concept of The Safety Pouch.”
It wasn’t until two years later that Price pursued his idea for The Safety Pouch after fate would land him in a business course at Loyola University of New Orleans — even though he was a political science major.
“I tried really hard to get out of the class, but I guess it was just fate for me to stay in the course and get back to realizing how impactful that the idea of this safety pouch could be,” Price said.
A class project to come up with a product or service that would bring about a societal change students would like to see led Price to revisit his idea of The Safety Pouch.
“This whole product was created so that Black drivers would not have to reach for their information to share with police officers during a traffic stop and risk the chance of being shot because they assumed that they may be reaching for a weapon,” said Price.
Not only does the product cater to Black drivers, but now his company has begun to work with police departments to train officers on how to not only interact with The Safety Pouch but remind them of de-escalation methods that can be used during traffic stops to promote safe, efficient stops for both drivers and law enforcement.
While he hopes that someday The Safety Pouch will only be used for convenience and not protection from police officers, Price says one of the great things about this product is that it’s sparked conversations about the problem at hand.
“At times it seems like we’ll never get there, but one of the great things about The Safety Pouch is not only is it a great tool, but it’s also a form of social commentary to show the extent to what measures Black drivers have to take to feel safe during a traffic stop.”
For more on The Safety Pouch, click here.
