How to Use Siri Shortcuts to Record a Police Encounter

Being stopped by police can be a difficult and even scary experience. Hopefully, the incident can be resolved smoothly and peacefully, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious, just in case. That’s why you may want to take certain steps, including texting someone your location and recording the encounter. You can do all that, and more, with your iPhone and a handy Siri shortcut.

Reddit user Robert Petersen created a shortcut called “I’m getting pulled over” that will pause any music playing on your phone, turn down the brightness, and activate “Do Not Disturb” mode. The shortcut will also send a message to someone with your status and location and start recording a video of the encounter. Here’s how to set up and use this shortcut.

Allow Untrusted Shortcuts

First, make sure the Shortcuts app is on your iPhone. The app should already be there as long as you’re running iOS 12 or higher. But if it’s missing, download and install it directly from the App Store. Next, you’ll need to allow untrusted shortcuts. However, before you can do that, you need to run at least one shortcut.

Open the Shortcuts app and run a shortcut. If you haven’t yet created any shortcuts, which would appear in the My Shortcuts section, tap Gallery and select the name of a shortcut. Tap the Add Shortcut button, then tap the My Shortcuts icon. Tap the shortcut you just added to run it.

Now, go to Settings > Shortcuts. Under Sharing Security, turn on the switch next to Allow Untrusted Shortcuts. 

Add and Set Up Shortcut

Open Safari on your phone and go to the page for the “I’m getting pulled over” shortcut. Make sure you get the latest version of the shortcut, not the original called “Police." Swipe down the Add Shortcut screen to review the actions this shortcut will take. At the bottom, tap the Add Untrusted Shortcut button.

At the next screen, type the phone number of the person you want to notify via text when you run this shortcut. Or tap the plus icon to access your contacts and select a specific person. 

Tap Continue, then add a contact for someone whom you want to receive a copy of the video of the encounter. Tap Done.

Run the Shortcut

You should test the shortcut before trying to run it in a real-life situation to make sure it runs properly and you know how to use it. Open the Shortcuts app, tap My Shortcuts, then tap the shortcut’s icon. You can also say “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over." The shortcut then runs automatically, though there are a few points at which you will need to step in. 

The shortcut requires you to press the red recording button to stop the video, then tap the Use Video link to create a text message. Tap the arrow next to the generated text message to send the video to your assigned contact. You can then choose whether or not you want to upload the video to iCloud Drive or Dropbox.

Any element of the shortcut that you previously set up can be changed at a later date. From the My Shortcuts page, tap the ellipsis on the shortcut and modify any of the variables you wish to change. If the shortcut is running as expected, keep it in mind the next time you’re pulled over by a police officer and want to record and notify someone about the encounter.