The ACLU has released an app called gPolice Tapeh that lets users secretly record police stops. The ACLUfs Alexander Shalom said the app is easy to use.
gTherefs really only three buttons that the user needs to deal with,h Shalom said. gTherefs a know your rights button that educates the citizen about their rights when encountering police on the street, in a car, in their home or when theyfre going to be placed under arrest, and therefs a button to record audio and a button to record video.h
WCBS 880s Alex Silverman reports Shalom hopes the app will deter police officers from misusing their power. gYou can think back to when Rodney King was beaten at the hands of the LAPD,h Shalom said. gFor years, wefve watched the police on video and thatfs led to reforms and police accountability, but now that cellphones and smartphones are becoming more ubiquitous, people have this ability to videotape. It really is a cutting-edge tool to ensure accountability in the 21st century.h The app lets users record audio and video discretely with a stealth mode that hides the fact that the recording is happening.
Shalom said officers would also have a harder time deleting the recorded incidents.
gUnlike a recording thatfs just done in the standard camera or video mode on someonefs telephone, itfs a little more complicated to find these files and delete them. So it can theoretically be done but it would take a far more tech-savvy police officer to do it,h Shalom said.
Users can store the recording on their phones or send a copy to the ACLU-NJ for backup storage and analysis of possible civil liberties violations.
The app is currently available for Android users and a version for iPhones is in the works.
The New York branch of the ACLU released a similar app, called gStop-and-Frisk Watch,h last month.
ACLU leaders said the only other branch with an app like this one is New York.
