Police Brutality Protest Siren

What it is:

A small siren that simulates the rate at which people are killed in the United States as victims of police brutality. The siren will go off at random times based on the current 2020 rate of police killings according to https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/. Each time the siren sounds is meant to represent the killing of a person by a police officer. The goal of the siren is to bring awareness to the prevalence of police brutality.

How it was made:

I started by taking a small clear bowl, some glue, and a tissue. I applied glue to the inside of the bowl, neatly stuck the tissue to it, and cut off any excess. The goal of this was to create a coating for the bowl which allowed the lights on the CPX to shine through but still obfuscate the electronics inside.

Next, I took a piece of cardboard and cut a circle through it just smaller than the size of the bowl. This was to act as the base of the object and keep the electronics sealed in place. Then I took some electrical tape and created a border around the bottom lip of the bowl. This made the object look a little more interesting and helped hide any imperfections in the edges of the tissue.

Finally, I placed the CPX onto the base and placed it into the bowl, once again using some electrical tape to hold it in place. And to bring it all together, I took a Lego policeman and attached him to the top of the bowl as an extra decorative / thematic piece.

* Note: The purple glue does eventually dry clear

How it works:

Every 60 seconds, the code generates a number between 0 and 480. If the number generated is exactly 480, then a siren will sound and the lights will alternate between red and blue for a few seconds, imitating the lights of a police car. Just after the siren ends, the lights will flash yellow and play a gunshot sound 3 times to represent gunfire.

The number 480 was discerned from the statistics of https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/. As of October 2020, the average number of deaths per day is around 3, or one every 8 hours. 8 hours is equivalent to 480 minutes, and with the code running once every minute, this should fairly accurately simulate the real-world statistic.

Demonstration

* Note: Audio in the video is very quiet for some reason. Headphones recommended. A siren sound is played followed by 3 gunshots.