Targeting Brutality
There's an app for that
A new smartphone app from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey, called Police Tape, makes it easier to record law enforcement on your phone. The app, developed by OpenWatch and available for Android and iOS, disappears from the screen when you start recording, making it more difficult for cops to recognize that a recording exists on a phone they've seized. It also has an option to send a backup copy to the ACLU and includes legal information about what rights you have when interacting with cops.
Police Tape isn't the first app developed to combat police brutality. In August, in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, three teenagers from Georgia developed an app called "Five O" that lets users document and rate their interactions with police. The New York Civil Liberties Union also recently released an app called Stop & Frisk Watch, which includes an alert if other users nearby are recording the police.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Targeting Brutality."
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?