Black drivers are about 20 percent more likely to be stopped in traffic by the police than white drivers.
What’s more, once stopped Black drivers are searched about 1.5 to 2 times more than white drivers despite being found that they were less likely to be carrying drugs or weapons compared to their white counterparts.
David Price’s parents have been having tough conversations with him about these hard truths since he was a child.
“My mom and dad always made it clear that as a young Black man, I have to be extra careful in this world,” Price said. “I’ve always been aware of that.”
Price said this became even more apparent after he obtained his drivers license and first car just a few years ago at 16-years-old. Although it was supposed to be an exciting time, it was dampened by the barrage of news depicting Black men and women getting killed by police officers, particularly at traffic stops.
“Before my parents gave me the keys to my car, they sat down and had ‘the talk’ with me,” he said. “And during that conversation, I kept thinking there must be products out there that help facilitate safer interactions between drivers and law enforcement.”
After realizing there wasn’t anything on the market, Price came up with the idea to create his own. Thus the idea for the Safety Pouch came about. A simple yet powerful concept, the pouch was to act as a holder of important documents located on drivers’ sun visors—mitigating them from reaching down in their vehicle, a movement that has triggered police officers to draw weapons in traffic stops.
Over the years, he continued to pursue his education, graduated high school and enrolled as a political science major at Loyola University of New Orleans, all with the idea of the Safety Pouch in the back of his mind.
It wasn’t until he was mistakenly enrolled in a business class did he move toward making the concept a reality. With the help of his professor, Price was able to bring the product to market in May 2020, a launch that couldn’t have come at a better time. “Originally, the plan for the state is possible to launch it in the winter, Price said. “But we released in the spring of 2020, right around the same time Ahmaud Arbery was killed by police officers. And I was just thinking, ‘Jesus… racial tensions are so high.’ This product is exactly people need right now.”
This was a wise decision. One month after the launch, George Floyd was killed in June. “I knew it was fortuitous that the product was released when it was because we needed to help facilitate safer interactions for both parties.”
In less than two years, the Safety Pouch is a top seller on Amazon, and recently launched in 400 Walmart stores nationwide.
“This is an incredible accomplishment because my goal has always been to help protect people by making the Safety Pouch as accessible as possible, but also make it kind of like as a statement piece. Because while the way I do see it as a solution in the short term, we need real policy change and legislation to help with police brutality during traffic stops—brutality in general. We need change. The Safety Pouch, I hope, can help inspire that.”