The American Civil Liberties Union has taken its police
accountability initiative to the shores of New Jersey with the release of
Police Tape, an app that lets "opportunistic citizen journalists"
record their encounters with law enforcement. Now available for Android (and
coming soon for iOS), it's just the latest in a stream of similar apps that aim
to expose instances of police misconduct. Previous examples include Stop &
Frisk Watch — produced in tandem with the NYCLU — and OpenWatch. Police Tape
was developed by the same team as OpenWatch and thus shares much of its
functionality, including discreet video and audio recording capabilities. Clips
can be saved locally to your device and users can also opt to upload them
directly to the NJ ACLU's servers for review. Further, deleting content is a
multi-step process that Police Tape's developers have intentionally made
complicated to prevent officers from destroying evidence. Apart from its
watchdog features, the app also offers a built-in tutorial that covers general
civil rights. This "reverse surveillance" technique has garnered its
fair share of controversy, but both the White House and federal courts have
come to bat for a citizen's right to record altercations with on-duty police
officers. Police Tape is available now via Google Play and is due to arrive on
iOS later this month.
Photograph the Police. Fairfax County Police means Police brutality