(MintPress) – In an effort to empower New Yorkers and monitor the New York Police Department (NYPD) activity and hold them accountable for unlawful stop-and-frisk encounters, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) have updated their app allowing bystanders to fully document stop-and-frisk encounters on iPhones as well as Android devices.
Though only an English version of the app was made available to iPhone users just last week, the app has been available for Android users, in both English and Spanish, since June. The NYCLU reported that nearly 20,000 New Yorkers have downloaded the app, which it says 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 go to the NYCLU, which uses 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.
The app also has a “Know Your Rights” section that educates bystanders about their rights should they be confronted by the police.
“Stop and Frisk Watch empowers New Yorkers to confront abusive, discriminatory policing,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. “The NYPD’s own data shows that the overwhelming majority of people subjected to stop-and-frisk are Black or Latino, and innocent of any wrongdoing. Our smartphone app allows individuals and community groups to document in real time how each unjustified stop further corrodes trust between communities and law enforcement.”
Developed by the same software developer who created the Occupy Wall Street app, “I’m Getting Arrested,” Jason Van Anden, the goal of the app is to “discourage, and ultimately end, this unfair and abusive policy.”
As Anden said, “I have witnessed the negative impact stop-and-frisk has had on some of my neighbors. Racial profiling creates distrust between the community and the police. We need more trust, not less.”
During the first three quarters of 2012, the NYCLU reports that police stopped innocent New Yorkers 392,897 times — a majority of whom were black or Latino. According to an analysis by NYCLU, Black and Latino males aged 14 to 24 accounted for 41.6 percent of stop-and-frisk stops in 2011, even though they only comprised less than 5 percent of the city’s population.
Since the NYCLU launched the app in June, they’ve reportedly received more than 5,000 videos, which were all reviewed by NYCLU staff.
“While we’ve yet to see a ‘Rodney King’ moment, Stop-and-Frisk Watch submissions have confirmed a number of concerns the NYCLU has about stop-and-frisk abuse and has provided New Yorkers with a powerful tool to document police abuse,” Lieberman said. “We’re proud that the app is used every day in New York City and that the attention it has received has encouraged people to document and expose police activity with their smart phones.”
Here’s a link to a video.