ACLU NY- App that records the police

[Le Libérer]

There's an app for that! Stop-and-Frisk Watch App

I am putting together a presentation on Knowing and Communicating your rights to the police for thursday at a near by university and came across this component of the speech. It's only set back is it only works in New York and I can understand why the Stop and Frisk Watch would be enough to handle, seeing how often racial profiling occurs.

Anyway, hopefully funding will occur for more ACLU organizations to create state specific apps. Interesting way to catch the police doing illegal stuff. I say, if they want a police state, then let's give it to them!



“Stop and Frisk Watch” – a free and innovative smart phone application that will empower New Yorkers to monitor police activity and hold the NYPD accountable for unlawful stop-and-frisk encounters and other police misconduct.


Stop and Frisk Watch is available in English and Spanish, thanks to a translation by Make the Road New York. Initially available for Android phones, an iPhone version will be released later this summer. The app allows bystanders to fully document stop-and-frisk encounters and alert community members when a street stop is in progress. It has three primary functions: :

RECORD: This allows the user to film an incident with audio by simply pushing a trigger on the phone’s frame. Shaking the phone stops the filming. When filming stops, the user immediately receives a brief survey allowing them to provide details about the incident. The video and survey will go to the NYCLU, which will use the information to shed light on the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices and hold the Department accountable for its actions.
LISTEN: This function alerts the user when people in their vicinity are being stopped by the police. When other app users in the area trigger Stop and Frisk Watch, the user receives a message reporting where the police stop is happening. This feature is especially useful for community groups who monitor police activity.
REPORT: This prompts the survey, allowing users to report a police interaction they saw or experienced, even if they didn’t film it.

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Source (http://www.nyclu.org/app)

[Comrades Unite!]

I do not own an Iphone, However this is defiantly a most interesting app.

I doubt it would be of much help to the Revolutionary Struggle, as you could hardly report Police Crimes through using an Iphone App.

[Prometeo liberado]

I received an e-mail from a friend recently that had a link to an article that stated how the cops have the ability to scramble this app and all cell communication as well. Some municipalities are having their respective city attorneys draw up arguments for the various lawsuits that will arise when they begin to implement these new scrambling measures. As usual the call for domestic security against terrorism is the overriding excuse. Gone will be the ability to communicate on a large scale during a protest, gone will be the use of social media before, during and after suspected gatherings and any other use an app or celly may bring. And don't think that just because a court has ruled scrambling as illegal that the cops won't cite "emergency powers" and use it sparingly anyways.

[Le Libérer]

I would love to see that article to determine whether it is worth my time to write the grant to fund this application in my state. Could you locate it for me? I really didnt see much on it when I googled for it.

[Le Libérer]

I doubt it would be of much help to the Revolutionary Struggle, as you could hardly report Police Crimes through using an Iphone App.

Huh?

[Os Cangaceiros]

The technology exists to scramble cell phone signals (it was used in Iraq to try and stop IED attacks which were often triggered via cell phone signal), but AFAIK the technology is not currently being used by police departments, not on a large scale anyway. It is politically risky technology to advocate for, what happens when some person has a massive heart attack and critical time is lost because a cop car happened to be in the area and people's cell phones didn't work? And what about the constant annoyances people would face from persistent loss of cell phone reception every time a cop car passes through their neighborhood? Unlike other police state measures, that sort of thing would be very overt in people's lives, and probably extremely unpopular.

Does this app have the ability to immediately upload footage to the internet as it's being filmed? Because that's important. The authorities have confiscated and smashed phones before, once they realized that they were being filmed. Also arrested people on trivial charges (like disorderly conduct) and then magically make incriminating footage disappear.