ACLU NJ releases an Android app for secretly recording police stops

[thewayne]

NY ACLU released one about a month earlier. The important thing about this app is that it directly streams the video to the ACLU's servers, so even if a cop takes your phone and removes the SIM, the video has already been captured.

There have been apps along this line available for a while, but this one doesn't look like your phone is recording something. So theoretically you might be able to record longer.

Going a little further than the NY press release,the NJ ACLU has said that if you record a police incident outside of NJ, they will forward the video to the appropriate ACLU chapter.

Gee, I wonder how many Occupiers are downloading this app right now? Oh, an iPhone version will be available soon, it's currently undergoing Apple's review.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/monitor-police-app/

This is especially useful because in March, the Department of Justice posted a very public-friendly opinion. "The department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division has affirmed the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights of citizens to record police officers in the public discharge of their duties. In an opinion letter issued on May 14, 2012 in regard to the ongoing litigation in Sharp v. Baltimore City Police Department, the DOJ stated that the individual right to record officers who are publicly executing their duties is a First Amendment right. Relying on Glik v. Cunniffe, the DOJ letter states “Recording governmental officers engaged in public duties is a form of speech through which private individuals may gather and disseminate information of public concern, including the conduct of law enforcement officers.” (DOJ letter, page 2.)"

http://www.avinalaw.com/2012/05/our-first-amendment-right-to-record.html

Comments

[silveradept]

That's a great app. Bu even with the constitutional protections, what are your odds that a police officer will still treat you poorly and seize your phone if they suspect you of recording them?

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

It is certainly a risk, but with the DOJ having a guideline distributed that says Thou Shalt Not, AG's are going to have to respect that and tell the cops to take it down a notch or two.

When I was working for the police department, I was told that if a cop got in trouble but was following regulations, the department would back them 100%. If they were not following regulations....

[silveradept]

It'll be interesting to watch the tug-of-war there, and it makes me wonder whether phones will be seized completely and mysteriously disappeared if there's a suspicion of evidence on them, and what sort of interesting regulations and possibly court cases could result from that kind of seizure.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I have a 64 gig iPhone 4S. The replacement cost is probably on the order of $1,000 or more (I'm guessing as the contract price was $400). You can bet I'd raise holy hell if it were seized and not returned promptly, it takes very little time to image a phone and the DOJ guidelines state that even if you seize a phone, you can't search it without a search warrant, which lets you argue in front of a judge.

It'll definitely be interesting to see how this works out over the next few years.