Jon StojanOne of the most important concepts of the modern era is human rights. According to the United Nations, these rights are available to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. In an ideal world, all governments and authorities will respect these rights. Unfortunately, that is not the case in reality. Police brutality is a major issue in the US and other countries around the world, and many citizens’ rights are breached, even in what should be routine police interactions, such as traffic stops or welfare checks.
The rampant violations of human rights are what inspired entrepreneur and software engineer Sarki Amada to create an AI-powered legal app known as LORD, which stands for Laws Or Rights on Demand. According to Amada, the inspiration behind the app was the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in 2020. Originally from Nigeria, he studied software engineering at Stratford University in Virginia and had just left the country when the George Floyd incident occurred.
Amada channeled the disappointment and anger that he felt at the blatant violation of human rights in creating an app that can help people know their rights when they interact with law enforcement, helping prevent unnecessary violence and illegitimate arrests.
The LORD App provides users with instant access to legal knowledge via an AI-powered engine that is trained on an extensive and frequently updated legal database. LORD has a simple user interface that can be consulted at a moment’s notice. For example, if police officers come to a user’s house wanting to enter it without a warrant, the user can open LORD on their smartphone and type or speak a query to quickly determine if the police are acting within the law or not.
According to Amada, LORD has various other uses, such as for law enforcement officers who want to make sure whether they will be acting lawfully in a certain situation. Lawyers or law students can also use LORD as a quick reference on the fly. “There are plenty of use cases for the app,” says Amada. “For instance, given that it is an election year in the US, users might be unsure about the legalities of the voting process. LORD can help clarify whether something they are seeing, or hearing about, is legal and compliant with established procedures.”
However, Amada reminds users that LORD is not a substitute for advice from a competent and licensed legal professional. Rather, it is a tool for learning and a reference in various situations. The app provides knowledge during an emergency and allows users to ask their lawyer the right questions.
LORD is currently available in 22 countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China. It has reached almost 5,000 users and has answered around 50,000 legal questions.
“We often see in the news so many stories of human rights violations by law enforcement, leading to violence, damage to property, and loss of life,” Amada says. “I believe that, if both citizens and police are aware of the law and human rights, then these incidents will be greatly reduced and hopefully eliminated. Statistics show that police interactions with a lawyer present are overwhelmingly smooth, and I hope that users having LORD by their side before a lawyer can arrive can replicate that effect. I am very passionate about providing technological solutions to various problems; police brutality and other human rights violations are some of the worst problems faced by the US and other countries. The deaths of George Floyd and many other individuals, who were overwhelmingly People of Color, have highlighted the severity of this social crisis, and LORD is my humble contribution in preventing more tragedies like these from happening.”
People interested in downloading the LORD app can do so from the company’s website.