The Associated Press
The American Civil Liberties
Union launched a free smartphone app in Maryland, the District and Virginia on
Friday that allows users to record police actions and instantly transfer the
video to the organization's attorneys for review.
ACLU officials hope Mobile
Justice becomes a citizens' version of officer-worn body cameras, making police
more accountable and deterring incidents of excessive force. The app, available
for the iPhone and Android operating systems, has been available for several
years in a number of states, including New York, Colorado and California.
Officials said it has been downloaded about 300,000 times.
The app uses a smartphone's
camera to record incidents. The video is automatically transferred to the ACLU,
to preserve it in case the phone is lost, confiscated or destroyed. Users fill
out a report documenting the location, time and people involved in the incident.
If the incident appears to show police misconduct or a violation of civil
rights, the ACLU can choose to take action.
The app can also notify users
when other users nearby have been stopped by police. This allows them to
witness and record the interaction. The app includes a "Know Your
Rights" section, with state-specific guides for interacting with and
recording the police.
"The app puts the public on
the same footing with the police," said Claire Guthrie Gastañaga,
executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. "People can take their own
video and make a choice about when to disclose it."
Gastañaga said the ACLU spent the
summer studying the use of body cameras by police and that the release of
Mobile Justice was, in part, a response to it. She said body cameras were
intended to "open up transparency and accountability and help restore
trust" in police, but she said if public records laws aren't changed to
mandate the release of the videos, it won't have much impact.
"If you know citizens are
taking film and it's made available to ACLU, and we'll have an opportunity to
make decisions if civil rights have been violated contemporaneously with
events, that might change how you treat police-worn body cameras," she
said.
Maj. Edward O'Carroll, director
of public affairs for Fairfax County police, said in an e-mail that although he
has not reviewed the app, the department supports citizens' rights to record
police, as long as it doesn't obstruct officers' actions, jeopardize safety or
incite others to break the law.
"We want the community to be
informed, safe, and trust the officers who are tasked with their roles as
community law enforcement," O'Carroll said.
Likewise, Greg Shipley, a
Maryland State Police spokesman, said that the department has no issue with the
app and that police "welcome the opportunity to display their
professionalism during interactions with the citizens we serve."
The launch comes after cellphone
video has played a pivotal role in a number of high-profile cases of excessive
force by officers against African Americans, including Freddie Gray in
Baltimore and Walter Scott in North Charleston, S.C. Many of the videos have
gone viral and helped build a national movement against police violence.
The Mobile Justice app is
available, in English and Spanish versions, through the Apple App Store and
Google Play.
Under the terms of the app, the
ACLU has the right to use a video submitted as it chooses. Gastañaga said that
could mean mounting a campaign in some cases or choosing to do nothing if the
video does not show misconduct. The ACLU also warned people to notify police if
they have been stopped and are attempting to reach for a phone to record the
interaction.
The ACLU said it has received
tens of thousands of videos through Mobile Justice, but it has not pursued
litigation in any case.
ACLU officials in New York City
said a similar app made to document interactions between police and residents
as part of the controversial stop-and-frisk program has generated thousands of
video submissions, but no litigation has arisen from it.
Mobile Justice is one of a crop
of police-accountability apps that have come out in recent years. Among others,
Five-O allows users to rate officers, and Swat allows users to livestream
police encounters and file complaints.
