PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Police violence against black males, in the United States (U.S.), is a public health disparity [37]. Physical &
psychological violence that is structurally mediated by systems of law enforcement, results in deaths, injuries,
trauma, and stress that disproportionately affect blacks in the U.S. According to a 2019 study, published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Americans’ risk of being killed by police is highest for black
men, who face ~1 in 1,000 chance of being killed by police over their lifetime. White men have ~1 in 2,500
chance of being killed by police over their lifetime, and Latino men a ~1 in 1,900 chance. Women less likely than
men to be killed by police. Their lifetime risk is ~1 in 33,000, compared to 1 in 2,000 for men. Moreover, black
men, in the U.S., are up to 3.5 times more likely than whites to be killed by law enforcement; and 1 in every
1,000 black men will die at the hands of police. In Baltimore, Maryland (MD), The Department of Justice (DOJ)
revealed, in a 163 page report, that African Americans were targeted and abused by Baltimore police indicating
a conspiracy against black citizens. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the overall
cost of fatal and nonfatal injuries, by law enforcement, is ~$1.8 billion including medical costs and work lost.
Public health policy experts suggest that mandatory training shall be implemented to reduce implicit bias of
law enforcement officers against communities of color. However, little is known about effects of implicit biases
on behavior, and no experimental studies have been conducted to measure the impact of implicit bias reduction
interventions among law enforcement officers. Likewise, officers receive limited de-escalation training;
w/training efforts met w/ resistance from police chiefs & national Fraternal Order of Police.
During the NIH SBIR Phase 1 effort, Juxtopia team will address the aforementioned public health disparity
to help mitigate the police violence endemic against black males by investigating the technical/commercial
feasibility of engineering Juxtopia® CAMMRAD Police augmented reality (AR) goggles to distribute an artificial
intelligent (AI) police e-trainer & e-evaluator, built upon the Juxtopia® augmented reality (AR)
hardware/software platform to achieve the following SBIR Phase I Specific Aims.
A. Prototype CAMMRAD Police to e-train/e-evaluate police on de-escalation & use of non-lethal force:
B. Evaluate CAMMRAD Police w/ Baltimore police in controlled & austere settings during learning stages.
